1
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Burge RJ, Jameson KH, Geoghegan V, Dowle AA, Mottram JC, Wilkinson AJ. Formation of functional E3 ligase complexes with UBC2 and UEV1 of Leishmania mexicana. Mol Biochem Parasitol 2024; 258:111619. [PMID: 38556171 DOI: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2024.111619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2024] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
In eukaryotic cells, molecular fate and cellular responses are shaped by multicomponent enzyme systems which reversibly attach ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modifiers to target proteins. The extent of the ubiquitin proteasome system in Leishmania mexicana and its importance for parasite survival has recently been established through deletion mutagenesis and life-cycle phenotyping studies. The ubiquitin conjugating E2 enzyme UBC2, and the E2 enzyme variant UEV1, with which it forms a stable complex in vitro, were shown to be essential for the differentiation of promastigote parasites to the infectious amastigote form. To investigate further, we used immunoprecipitation of Myc-UBC2 or Myc-UEV1 to identify interacting proteins in L. mexicana promastigotes. The interactome of UBC2 comprises multiple ubiquitin-proteasome components including UEV1 and four RING E3 ligases, as well as potential substrates predicted to have roles in carbohydrate metabolism and intracellular trafficking. The smaller UEV1 interactome comprises six proteins, including UBC2 and shared components of the UBC2 interactome consistent with the presence of intracellular UBC2-UEV1 complexes. Recombinant RING1, RING2 and RING4 E3 ligases were shown to support ubiquitin transfer reactions involving the E1, UBA1a, and UBC2 to available substrate proteins or to unanchored ubiquitin chains. These studies define additional components of a UBC2-dependent ubiquitination pathway shown previously to be essential for promastigote to amastigote differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca J Burge
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Katie H Jameson
- York Structural Biology Laboratory and York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Vincent Geoghegan
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Adam A Dowle
- Bioscience Technology Facility, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.
| | - Anthony J Wilkinson
- York Structural Biology Laboratory and York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.
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2
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Myburgh E, Geoghegan V, Alves-Ferreira EV, Nievas YR, Grewal JS, Brown E, McLuskey K, Mottram JC. TORC1 is an essential regulator of nutrient-controlled proliferation and differentiation in Leishmania. EMBO Rep 2024; 25:1075-1105. [PMID: 38396206 PMCID: PMC10933368 DOI: 10.1038/s44319-024-00084-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Leishmania parasites undergo differentiation between various proliferating and non-dividing forms to adapt to changing host environments. The mechanisms that link environmental cues with the parasite's developmental changes remain elusive. Here, we report that Leishmania TORC1 is a key environmental sensor for parasite proliferation and differentiation in the sand fly-stage promastigotes and for replication of mammalian-stage amastigotes. We show that Leishmania RPTOR1, interacts with TOR1 and LST8, and identify new parasite-specific proteins that interact in this complex. We investigate TORC1 function by conditional deletion of RPTOR1, where under nutrient-rich conditions RPTOR1 depletion results in decreased protein synthesis and growth, G1 cell cycle arrest and premature differentiation from proliferative promastigotes to non-dividing mammalian-infective metacyclic forms. These parasites are unable to respond to nutrients to differentiate into proliferative retroleptomonads, which are required for their blood-meal induced amplification in sand flies and enhanced mammalian infectivity. We additionally show that RPTOR1-/- metacyclic promastigotes develop into amastigotes but do not proliferate in the mammalian host to cause pathology. RPTOR1-dependent TORC1 functionality represents a critical mechanism for driving parasite growth and proliferation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elmarie Myburgh
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
| | - Vincent Geoghegan
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Eliza Vc Alves-Ferreira
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Y Romina Nievas
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jaspreet S Grewal
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Elaine Brown
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Karen McLuskey
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
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3
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Saldivia M, Lima APCA, Mottram JC. A promising pipeline of preclinical drug candidates for leishmaniasis and chronic Chagas' disease. Trends Parasitol 2024; 40:211-213. [PMID: 38368155 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2024.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/19/2024]
Abstract
The drug discovery pipeline for leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis has been filling with novel chemical entities with known mechanisms of action. González et al. and Braillard et al. report a cytochrome bc1 complex inhibitor as another promising preclinical candidate for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and, in combination with benznidazole, for chronic Chagas' disease (CCD).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ana Paula C A Lima
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
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4
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Russell C, Carter JL, Borgia JM, Bush J, Calderón F, Gabarró R, Conway SJ, Mottram JC, Wilkinson AJ, Jones NG. Bromodomain Factor 5 as a Target for Antileishmanial Drug Discovery. ACS Infect Dis 2023; 9:2340-2357. [PMID: 37906637 PMCID: PMC10644352 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Leishmaniases are a collection of neglected tropical diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites in the genus Leishmania. Current chemotherapies are severely limited, and the need for new antileishmanials is of pressing international importance. Bromodomains are epigenetic reader domains that have shown promising therapeutic potential for cancer therapy and may also present an attractive target to treat parasitic diseases. Here, we investigate Leishmania donovani bromodomain factor 5 (LdBDF5) as a target for antileishmanial drug discovery. LdBDF5 contains a pair of bromodomains (BD5.1 and BD5.2) in an N-terminal tandem repeat. We purified recombinant bromodomains of L. donovani BDF5 and determined the structure of BD5.2 by X-ray crystallography. Using a histone peptide microarray and fluorescence polarization assay, we identified binding interactions of LdBDF5 bromodomains with acetylated peptides derived from histones H2B and H4. In orthogonal biophysical assays including thermal shift assays, fluorescence polarization, and NMR, we showed that BDF5 bromodomains bind to human bromodomain inhibitors SGC-CBP30, bromosporine, and I-BRD9; moreover, SGC-CBP30 exhibited activity against Leishmania promastigotes in cell viability assays. These findings exemplify the potential BDF5 holds as a possible drug target in Leishmania and provide a foundation for the future development of optimized antileishmanial compounds targeting this epigenetic reader protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine
N. Russell
- York
Structural Biology Laboratory and York Biomedical Research Institute,
Department of Chemistry, University of York, York YO10 5DD, U.K.
| | - Jennifer L. Carter
- Department
of Chemistry, Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, U.K.
| | - Juliet M. Borgia
- York
Structural Biology Laboratory and York Biomedical Research Institute,
Department of Chemistry, University of York, York YO10 5DD, U.K.
| | - Jacob Bush
- GSK, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 2NY, U.K.
| | | | | | - Stuart J. Conway
- Department
of Chemistry, Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, U.K.
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York
Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5NG, U.K.
| | - Anthony J. Wilkinson
- York
Structural Biology Laboratory and York Biomedical Research Institute,
Department of Chemistry, University of York, York YO10 5DD, U.K.
| | - Nathaniel G. Jones
- York
Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5NG, U.K.
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5
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Black JA, Klinger CM, Lemgruber L, Dacks JB, Mottram JC, McCulloch R. AAK1-like: A putative pseudokinase with potential roles in cargo uptake in bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei parasites. J Eukaryot Microbiol 2023; 70:e12994. [PMID: 37548427 PMCID: PMC10952953 DOI: 10.1111/jeu.12994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Selection and internalization of cargo via clathrin-mediated endocytosis requires adaptor protein complexes. One complex, AP-2, acts during cargo selection at the plasma membrane. African trypanosomes lack all components of the AP-2 complex, except for a recently identified orthologue of the AP-2-associated protein kinase 1, AAK1. In characterized eukaryotes, AAK1 phosphorylates the μ2 subunit of the AP-2 complex to enhance cargo recognition and uptake into clathrin-coated vesicles. Here, we show that kinetoplastids encode not one, but two AAK1 orthologues: one (AAK1L2) is absent from salivarian trypanosomes, while the other (AAK1L1) lacks important kinase-specific residues in a range of trypanosomes. These AAK1L1 and AAK1L2 novelties reinforce suggestions of functional divergence in endocytic uptake within salivarian trypanosomes. Despite this, we show that AAK1L1 null mutant Trypanosoma brucei, while viable, display slowed proliferation, morphological abnormalities including swelling of the flagellar pocket, and altered cargo uptake. In summary, our data suggest an unconventional role for a putative pseudokinase during endocytosis and/or vesicular trafficking in T. brucei, independent of AP-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A. Black
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection & ImmunityUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical SchoolUniversity of São PauloSão PauloBrazil
| | - Christen M. Klinger
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection & ImmunityUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health, Research InnovationUniversity of AlbertaEdmontonAlbertaCanada
| | - Leandro Lemgruber
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection & ImmunityUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
- Glasgow Imaging Facility, School of Infection & ImmunityUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | - Joel B. Dacks
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical SchoolUniversity of São PauloSão PauloBrazil
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology CentreCzech Academy of SciencesCeske Budejovice (Budweis)Czech Republic
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of BiologyUniversity of YorkYorkUK
| | - Richard McCulloch
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection & ImmunityUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
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6
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Rao SPS, Gould MK, Noeske J, Saldivia M, Jumani RS, Ng PS, René O, Chen YL, Kaiser M, Ritchie R, Francisco AF, Johnson N, Patra D, Cheung H, Deniston C, Schenk AD, Cortopassi WA, Schmidt RS, Wiedemar N, Thomas B, Palkar R, Ghafar NA, Manoharan V, Luu C, Gable JE, Wan KF, Myburgh E, Mottram JC, Barnes W, Walker J, Wartchow C, Aziz N, Osborne C, Wagner J, Sarko C, Kelly JM, Manjunatha UH, Mäser P, Jiricek J, Lakshminarayana SB, Barrett MP, Diagana TT. Cyanotriazoles are selective topoisomerase II poisons that rapidly cure trypanosome infections. Science 2023; 380:1349-1356. [PMID: 37384702 DOI: 10.1126/science.adh0614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
Millions who live in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of trypanosomatid infections, which cause Chagas disease and human African trypanosomiasis (HAT). Improved HAT treatments are available, but Chagas disease therapies rely on two nitroheterocycles, which suffer from lengthy drug regimens and safety concerns that cause frequent treatment discontinuation. We performed phenotypic screening against trypanosomes and identified a class of cyanotriazoles (CTs) with potent trypanocidal activity both in vitro and in mouse models of Chagas disease and HAT. Cryo-electron microscopy approaches confirmed that CT compounds acted through selective, irreversible inhibition of trypanosomal topoisomerase II by stabilizing double-stranded DNA:enzyme cleavage complexes. These findings suggest a potential approach toward successful therapeutics for the treatment of Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srinivasa P S Rao
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
| | - Matthew K Gould
- College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Jonas Noeske
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Manuel Saldivia
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Rajiv S Jumani
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Pearly S Ng
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
| | - Olivier René
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Yen-Liang Chen
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
| | - Marcel Kaiser
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
- Faculty of Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ryan Ritchie
- College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | | | - Nila Johnson
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Debjani Patra
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Harry Cheung
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Colin Deniston
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, San Diego, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Remo S Schmidt
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
- Faculty of Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Natalie Wiedemar
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
- Faculty of Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Bryanna Thomas
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Rima Palkar
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Catherine Luu
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan E Gable
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Kah Fei Wan
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
| | - Elmarie Myburgh
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of York, York, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Whitney Barnes
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - John Walker
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Charles Wartchow
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Natasha Aziz
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Colin Osborne
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Juergen Wagner
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Christopher Sarko
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - John M Kelly
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Ujjini H Manjunatha
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
| | - Pascal Mäser
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
- Faculty of Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Jan Jiricek
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
| | - Suresh B Lakshminarayana
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
| | - Michael P Barrett
- College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Thierry T Diagana
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
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7
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Romano PS, Akematsu T, Besteiro S, Bindschedler A, Carruthers VB, Chahine Z, Coppens I, Descoteaux A, Alberto Duque TL, He CY, Heussler V, Le Roch KG, Li FJ, de Menezes JPB, Menna-Barreto RFS, Mottram JC, Schmuckli-Maurer J, Turk B, Tavares Veras PS, Salassa BN, Vanrell MC. Autophagy in protists and their hosts: When, how and why? Autophagy Rep 2023; 2:2149211. [PMID: 37064813 PMCID: PMC10104450 DOI: 10.1080/27694127.2022.2149211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 03/12/2023]
Abstract
Pathogenic protists are a group of organisms responsible for causing a variety of human diseases including malaria, sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and toxoplasmosis, among others. These diseases, which affect more than one billion people globally, mainly the poorest populations, are characterized by severe chronic stages and the lack of effective antiparasitic treatment. Parasitic protists display complex life-cycles and go through different cellular transformations in order to adapt to the different hosts they live in. Autophagy, a highly conserved cellular degradation process, has emerged as a key mechanism required for these differentiation processes, as well as other functions that are crucial to parasite fitness. In contrast to yeasts and mammals, protist autophagy is characterized by a modest number of conserved autophagy-related proteins (ATGs) that, even though, can drive the autophagosome formation and degradation. In addition, during their intracellular cycle, the interaction of these pathogens with the host autophagy system plays a crucial role resulting in a beneficial or harmful effect that is important for the outcome of the infection. In this review, we summarize the current state of knowledge on autophagy and other related mechanisms in pathogenic protists and their hosts. We sought to emphasize when, how, and why this process takes place, and the effects it may have on the parasitic cycle. A better understanding of the significance of autophagy for the protist life-cycle will potentially be helpful to design novel anti-parasitic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Silvia Romano
- Laboratorio de Biología de Trypanosoma cruzi y de la célula hospedadora. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. (IHEM-CONICET-UNCUYO). Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Av. Libertador 80 (5500), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Takahiko Akematsu
- Department of Biosciences, College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | | | - Vern B Carruthers
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Zeinab Chahine
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Isabelle Coppens
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Baltimore 21205, MD, USA
| | - Albert Descoteaux
- Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Laval, QC
| | - Thabata Lopes Alberto Duque
- Autophagy Inflammation and Metabolism Center, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA; Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Cynthia Y He
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Volker Heussler
- Institute of Cell Biology.University of Bern. Baltzerstr. 4 3012 Bern
| | - Karine G Le Roch
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Feng-Jun Li
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | | | | | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | | | - Boris Turk
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Structural Biology, Jožef Stefan Institute, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Patricia Sampaio Tavares Veras
- Laboratory of Host-Parasite Interaction and Epidemiology, Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Fiocruz-Bahia
- National Institute of Science and Technology of Tropical Diseases - National Council for Scientific Research and Development (CNPq)
| | - Betiana Nebai Salassa
- Laboratorio de Biología de Trypanosoma cruzi y de la célula hospedadora. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. (IHEM-CONICET-UNCUYO). Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Av. Libertador 80 (5500), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - María Cristina Vanrell
- Laboratorio de Biología de Trypanosoma cruzi y de la célula hospedadora. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. (IHEM-CONICET-UNCUYO). Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Av. Libertador 80 (5500), Mendoza, Argentina
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8
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Costa TFR, Goundry A, Morrot A, Grab DJ, Mottram JC, Lima APCA. Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense Inhibitor of Cysteine Peptidase (ICP) Is Required for Virulence in Mice and to Attenuate the Inflammatory Response. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 24:656. [PMID: 36614101 PMCID: PMC9820468 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24010656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Revised: 12/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The protozoan Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense causes Human African Trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, and penetrates the central nervous system, leading to meningoencephalitis. The Cathepsin L-like cysteine peptidase of T. b. rhodesiense has been implicated in parasite penetration of the blood-brain barrier and its activity is modulated by the chagasin-family endogenous inhibitor of cysteine peptidases (ICP). To investigate the role of ICP in T. b. rhodesiense bloodstream form, ICP-null (Δicp) mutants were generated, and lines re-expressing ICP (Δicp:ICP). Lysates of Δicp displayed increased E-64-sensitive cysteine peptidase activity and the mutant parasites traversed human brain microvascular endothelial cell (HBMEC) monolayers in vitro more efficiently. Δicp induced E-selectin in HBMECs, leading to the adherence of higher numbers of human neutrophils. In C57BL/6 mice, no Δicp parasites could be detected in the blood after 6 days, while mice infected with wild-type (WT) or Δicp:ICP displayed high parasitemia, peaking at day 12. In mice infected with Δicp, there was increased recruitment of monocytes to the site of inoculation and higher levels of IFN-γ in the spleen. At day 14, mice infected with Δicp exhibited higher preservation of the CD4+, CD8+, and CD19+ populations in the spleen, accompanied by sustained high IFN-γ, while NK1.1+ populations receded nearly to the levels of uninfected controls. We propose that ICP helps to downregulate inflammatory responses that contribute to the control of infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatiana F. R. Costa
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-901, Brazil
| | - Amy Goundry
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-901, Brazil
| | - Alexandre Morrot
- Laboratório de Imunoparasitologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-900, Brazil
- Centro de Pesquisa em Tuberculose, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Manguinhos 21040-900, Brazil
| | - Dennis J. Grab
- Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Ana Paula C. A. Lima
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-901, Brazil
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9
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Burge RJ, Mottram JC, Wilkinson AJ. Ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like conjugation systems in trypanosomatids. Curr Opin Microbiol 2022; 70:102202. [PMID: 36099676 DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2022.102202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
In eukaryotic cells, reversible attachment of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modifiers (Ubls) to specific target proteins is conducted by multicomponent systems whose collective actions control protein fate and cell behaviour in precise but complex ways. In trypanosomatids, attachment of ubiquitin and Ubls to target proteins regulates the cell cycle, endocytosis, protein sorting and degradation, autophagy and various aspects of infection and stress responses. The extent of these systems in trypanosomatids has been surveyed in recent reports, while in Leishmania mexicana, essential roles have been defined for many ubiquitin-system genes in deletion mutagenesis and life-cycle phenotyping campaigns. The first steps to elucidate the pathways of ubiquitin transfer among the ubiquitination components and to define the acceptor substrates and the downstream deubiquitinases are now being taken.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca J Burge
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
| | - Anthony J Wilkinson
- York Biomedical Research Institute & York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, UK
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10
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Carnielli JB, Dave A, Romano A, Forrester S, de Faria PR, Monti-Rocha R, Costa CH, Dietze R, Graham IA, Mottram JC. 3'Nucleotidase/nuclease is required for Leishmania infantum clinical isolate susceptibility to miltefosine. EBioMedicine 2022; 86:104378. [PMID: 36462405 PMCID: PMC9713291 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Miltefosine treatment failure in visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil has been associated with deletion of the miltefosine susceptibility locus (MSL) in Leishmania infantum. The MSL comprises four genes, 3'-nucleotidase/nucleases (NUC1 and NUC2); helicase-like protein (HLP); and 3,2-trans-enoyl-CoA isomerase (TEI). METHODS In this study CRISPR-Cas9 was used to either epitope tag or delete NUC1, NUC2, HLP and TEI, to investigate their role in miltefosine resistance mechanisms. Additionally, miltefosine transporter genes and miltefosine-mediated reactive oxygen species homeostasis were assessed in 26 L. infantum clinical isolates. A comparative lipidomic analysis was also performed to investigate the molecular basis of miltefosine resistance. FINDINGS Deletion of both NUC1, NUC2 from the MSL was associated with a significant decrease in miltefosine susceptibility, which was restored after re-expression. Metabolomic analysis of parasites lacking the MSL or NUC1 and NUC2 identified an increase in the parasite lipid content, including ergosterol; these lipids may contribute to miltefosine resistance by binding the drug in the membrane. Parasites lacking the MSL are more resistant to lipid metabolism perturbation caused by miltefosine and NUC1 and NUC2 are involved in this pathway. Additionally, L. infantum parasites lacking the MSL isolated from patients who relapsed after miltefosine treatment were found to modulate nitric oxide accumulation in host macrophages. INTERPRETATION Altogether, these data indicate that multifactorial mechanisms are involved in natural resistance to miltefosine in L. infantum and that the absence of the 3'nucleotidase/nuclease genes NUC1 and NUC2 contributes to the phenotype. FUNDING MRC GCRF and FAPES.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana B.T. Carnielli
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom,Laboratório de Leishmanioses, Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória-ES, Brazil,Corresponding author. York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom.
| | - Anuja Dave
- Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Audrey Romano
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Forrester
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Pedro R. de Faria
- Laboratório de Leishmanioses, Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória-ES, Brazil
| | - Renata Monti-Rocha
- Laboratório de Leishmanioses, Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória-ES, Brazil
| | - Carlos H.N. Costa
- Laboratório de Pesquisas em Leishmanioses, Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina-PI, Brazil
| | - Reynaldo Dietze
- Laboratório de Leishmanioses, Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória-ES, Brazil,Global Health & Tropical Medicine—Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical—Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Ian A. Graham
- Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom,Corresponding author. York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom.
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11
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Geoghegan V, Carnielli JBT, Jones NG, Saldivia M, Antoniou S, Hughes C, Neish R, Dowle A, Mottram JC. CLK1/CLK2-driven signalling at the Leishmania kinetochore is captured by spatially referenced proximity phosphoproteomics. Commun Biol 2022; 5:1305. [PMID: 36437406 PMCID: PMC9701682 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04280-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Kinetochores in the parasite Leishmania and related kinetoplastids appear to be unique amongst eukaryotes and contain protein kinases as core components. Using the kinetochore kinases KKT2, KKT3 and CLK2 as baits, we developed a BirA* proximity biotinylation methodology optimised for sensitivity, XL-BioID, to investigate the composition and function of the Leishmania kinetochore. We could detect many of the predicted components and also discovered two novel kinetochore proteins, KKT24 and KKT26. Using KKT3 tagged with a fast-acting promiscuous biotin ligase variant, we took proximity biotinylation snapshots of the kinetochore in synchronised parasites. To quantify proximal phosphosites at the kinetochore as the parasite progressed through the cell cycle, we further developed a spatially referenced proximity phosphoproteomics approach. This revealed a group of phosphosites at the kinetochore that were highly dynamic during kinetochore assembly. We show that the kinase inhibitor AB1 targets CLK1/CLK2 (KKT10/KKT19) in Leishmania leading to defective cytokinesis. Using AB1 to uncover CLK1/CLK2 driven signalling pathways important for kinetochore function at G2/M, we found a set of 16 inhibitor responsive kinetochore-proximal phosphosites. Our results exploit new proximity labelling approaches to provide a direct analysis of the Leishmania kinetochore, which is emerging as a promising drug target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Geoghegan
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Juliana B. T. Carnielli
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Nathaniel G. Jones
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Manuel Saldivia
- grid.418424.f0000 0004 0439 2056Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA USA
| | - Sergios Antoniou
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Charlotte Hughes
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Rachel Neish
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Adam Dowle
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668Bioscience Technology Facility, Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
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12
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Burge RJ, Jameson KH, Wilkinson AJ, Mottram JC. In vitro Di-ubiquitin Formation Assay and E3 Cooperation Assay. Bio Protoc 2022; 12:e4547. [PMID: 36505023 PMCID: PMC9711943 DOI: 10.21769/bioprotoc.4547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2022] [Revised: 08/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Ubiquitination is a post-translational modification conserved across eukaryotic species. It contributes to a variety of regulatory pathways, including proteasomal degradation, DNA repair, and cellular differentiation. The ubiquitination of substrate proteins typically requires three ubiquitination enzymes: a ubiquitin-activating E1, a ubiquitin-conjugating E2, and an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Cooperation between E2s and E3s is required for substrate ubiquitination, but some ubiquitin-conjugating E2s are also able to catalyze by themselves the formation of free di-ubiquitin, independently or in cooperation with a ubiquitin E2 variant. Here, we describe a method for assessing (i) di-ubiquitin formation by an E1 together with an E2 and an E2 variant, and (ii) the cooperation of an E3 with an E1 and E2 (with or without the E2 variant). Reaction products are assessed using western blotting with one of two antibodies: the first detects all ubiquitin conjugates, while the second specifically recognizes K63-linked ubiquitin. This allows unambiguous identification of ubiquitinated species and assessment of whether K63 linkages are present. We have developed these methods for studying ubiquitination proteins of Leishmania mexicana , specifically the activities of the E2, UBC2, and the ubiquitin E2 variant UEV1, but we anticipate the assays to be applicable to other ubiquitination systems with UBC2/UEV1 orthologues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca J. Burge
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Katie H. Jameson
- York Biomedical Research Institute & York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, UK
| | - Anthony J. Wilkinson
- York Biomedical Research Institute & York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, UK
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
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13
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Cayla M, Nievas YR, Matthews KR, Mottram JC. Distinguishing functions of trypanosomatid protein kinases. Trends Parasitol 2022; 38:950-961. [PMID: 36075845 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2022.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Revised: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Trypanosomatid parasitic protozoa are divergent from opisthokont models and have evolved unique mechanisms to regulate their complex life cycles and to adapt to a range of hosts. Understanding how these organisms respond, adapt, and persist in their different hosts could reveal optimal drug-control strategies. Protein kinases are fundamental to many biological processes such as cell cycle control, adaptation to stress, and cellular differentiation. Therefore, we have focused this review on the features and functions of protein kinases that distinguish trypanosomatid kinomes from other eukaryotes. We describe the latest research, highlighting similarities and differences between two groups of trypanosomatid parasites, Leishmania and African trypanosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Cayla
- Institute for Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Y Romina Nievas
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Keith R Matthews
- Institute for Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
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14
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Geoghegan V, Mottram JC, Jones NG. Tag Thy Neighbour: Nanometre-Scale Insights Into Kinetoplastid Parasites With Proximity Dependent Biotinylation. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 12:894213. [PMID: 35601102 PMCID: PMC9120650 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.894213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Proximity labelling is a powerful and rapidly developing technology for exploring the interaction space and molecular environment of a protein of interest at the nanometre scale. In proximity labelling, a promiscuous biotinylating enzyme is genetically fused to the protein of interest, initiation of labelling then results in the biotinylating enzyme generating reactive biotin which covalently ‘tags’ nearby molecules. Importantly, this labelling takes place in vivo whilst the protein of interest continues to perform its normal functions in the cell. Due to its unique advantageous characteristics, proximity labelling is driving discoveries in an ever increasing range of organisms. Here, we highlight the applications of proximity labelling to the study of kinetoplastids, a group of eukaryotic protozoa that includes trypanosomes and Leishmania which can cause serious disease in humans and livestock. We first provide a general overview of the proximity labelling experimental workflow including key labelling enzymes used, proper experimental design with appropriate controls and robust statistical analysis to maximise the amount of reliable spatial information that is generated. We discuss studies employing proximity labelling in kinetoplastid parasites to illustrate how these key principles of experimental design are applied. Finally, we highlight emerging trends in the development of proximity labelling methodology.
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15
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Forrester S, Goundry A, Dias BT, Leal-Calvo T, Moraes MO, Kaye PM, Mottram JC, Lima APCA. Tissue Specific Dual RNA-Seq Defines Host-Parasite Interplay in Murine Visceral Leishmaniasis Caused by Leishmania donovani and Leishmania infantum. Microbiol Spectr 2022; 10:e0067922. [PMID: 35384718 PMCID: PMC9045295 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00679-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Visceral leishmaniasis is associated with hepato-splenomegaly and altered immune and hematological parameters in both preclinical animal models and humans. We studied mouse experimental visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum and Leishmania donovani in BALB/c mice using dual RNA-seq to investigate the transcriptional response of host and parasite in liver and spleen. We identified only 4 species-specific parasite expressed genes (SSPEGs; log2FC >1, FDR <0.05) in the infected spleen, and none in the infected liver. For the host transcriptome, we found 789 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; log2FC >1, FDR <0.05) in the spleen that were common to both infections, with IFNγ signaling and complement and coagulation cascade pathways highly enriched, and an additional 286 and 186 DEGs that were selective to L. donovani and L. infantum infection, respectively. Among those, there were network interactions between genes of amino acid metabolism and PPAR signaling in L. donovani infection and increased IL1β and positive regulation of fatty acid transport in L. infantum infection, although no pathway enrichment was observed. In the liver, there were 1,939 DEGs in mice infected with either L. infantum or L. donovani in comparison to uninfected mice, and the most enriched pathways were IFNγ signaling, neutrophil mediated immunity, complement and coagulation, cytokine-chemokine responses, and hemostasis. Additionally, 221 DEGs were selective in L. donovani and 429 DEGs in L. infantum infections. These data show that the host response for these two visceral leishmaniasis infection models is broadly similar, and ∼10% of host DEGs vary in infections with either parasite species. IMPORTANCE Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is caused by two species of Leishmania parasites, L. donovani in the Old World and L. infantum in the New World and countries bordering the Mediterranean. Although cardinal features such as hepato-splenomegaly and alterations in blood and immune function are evident, clinical presentation may vary by geography, with for example severe bleeding often associated with VL in Brazil. Although animal models of both L. donovani and L. infantum have been widely used to study disease pathogenesis, a direct side-by-side comparison of how these parasites species impact the infected host and/or how they might respond to the stresses of mammalian infection has not been previously reported. Identifying common and distinct pathways to pathogenesis will be important to ensure that new therapeutic or prophylactic approaches will be applicable across all forms of VL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Forrester
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, England, United Kingdom
| | - Amy Goundry
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, England, United Kingdom
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Bruna Torres Dias
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | | | - Paul M. Kaye
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of York, York, England, United Kingdom
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, England, United Kingdom
| | - Ana Paula C. A. Lima
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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16
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Dias BT, Goundry A, Vivarini AC, Costa TFR, Mottram JC, Lopes UG, Lima APCA. Toll-Like Receptor- and Protein Kinase R-Induced Type I Interferon Sustains Infection of Leishmania donovani in Macrophages. Front Immunol 2022; 13:801182. [PMID: 35154115 PMCID: PMC8831251 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.801182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Leishmania donovani is a protozoan parasite that causes visceral leishmaniasis, provoking liver and spleen tissue destruction that is lethal unless treated. The parasite replicates in macrophages and modulates host microbicidal responses. We have previously reported that neutrophil elastase (NE) is required to sustain L. donovani intracellular growth in macrophages through the induction of interferon beta (IFN-β). Here, we show that the gene expression of IFN-β by infected macrophages was reduced by half when TLR4 was blocked by pre-treatment with neutralizing antibodies or in macrophages from tlr2-/- mice, while the levels in macrophages from myd88-/- mice were comparable to those from wild-type C57BL/6 mice. The neutralization of TLR4 in tlr2-/- macrophages completely abolished induction of IFN-β gene expression upon parasite infection, indicating an additive role for both TLRs. Induction of type I interferon (IFN-I), OASL2, SOD1, and IL10 gene expression by L. donovani was completely abolished in macrophages from NE knock-out mice (ela2-/-) or from protein kinase R (PKR) knock-out mice (pkr-/-), and in C57BL/6 macrophages infected with transgenic L. donovani expressing the inhibitor of serine peptidase 2 (ISP2). Parasite intracellular growth was impaired in pkr-/- macrophages but was fully restored by the addition of exogenous IFN-β, and parasite burdens were reduced in the spleen of pkr-/- mice at 7 days, as compared to the 129Sv/Ev background mice. Furthermore, parasites were unable to grow in macrophages lacking TLR3, which correlated with lack of IFN-I gene expression. Thus, L. donovani engages innate responses in infected macrophages via TLR2, TLR4, and TLR3, via downstream PKR, to induce the expression of pro-survival genes in the host cell, and guarantee parasite intracellular development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruna T. Dias
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Amy Goundry
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Aislan C. Vivarini
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Tatiana F. R. Costa
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Ulisses G. Lopes
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Ana Paula C. A. Lima
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- *Correspondence: Ana Paula C. A. Lima,
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17
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Grace CA, Forrester S, Silva VC, Carvalho KSS, Kilford H, Chew YP, James S, Costa DL, Mottram JC, Costa CCHN, Jeffares DC. Candidates for Balancing Selection in Leishmania donovani Complex Parasites. Genome Biol Evol 2021; 13:6448231. [PMID: 34865011 PMCID: PMC8717319 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evab265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Leishmania donovani species complex is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis, which cause 20–40,000 fatalities a year. Here, we conduct a screen for balancing selection in this species complex. We used 384 publicly available L. donovani and L. infantum genomes, and sequence 93 isolates of L. infantum from Brazil to describe the global diversity of this species complex. We identify five genetically distinct populations that are sufficiently represented by genomic data to search for signatures of selection. We find that signals of balancing selection are generally not shared between populations, consistent with transient adaptive events, rather than long-term balancing selection. We then apply multiple diversity metrics to identify candidate genes with robust signatures of balancing selection, identifying a curated set of 24 genes with robust signatures. These include zeta toxin, nodulin-like, and flagellum attachment proteins. This study highlights the extent of genetic divergence between L. donovani complex parasites and provides genes for further study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cooper Alastair Grace
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Forrester
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Vladimir Costa Silva
- Instituto de Doenças do Sertão, Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella, Centro de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina-PI, Brazil
| | - Kátia Silene Sousa Carvalho
- Instituto de Doenças do Sertão, Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella, Centro de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina-PI, Brazil
| | - Hannah Kilford
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Yen Peng Chew
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom.,Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Sally James
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Dorcas L Costa
- Instituto de Doenças do Sertão, Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella, Centro de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina-PI, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Carlos C H N Costa
- Instituto de Doenças do Sertão, Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella, Centro de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina-PI, Brazil
| | - Daniel C Jeffares
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
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18
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Saldivia M, Wollman AJM, Carnielli JBT, Jones NG, Leake MC, Bower-Lepts C, Rao SPS, Mottram JC. A CLK1-KKT2 Signaling Pathway Regulating Kinetochore Assembly in Trypanosoma brucei. mBio 2021; 12:e0068721. [PMID: 34128702 PMCID: PMC8262961 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00687-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
During mitosis, eukaryotic cells must duplicate and separate their chromosomes in a precise and timely manner. The apparatus responsible for this is the kinetochore, which is a large protein structure that links chromosomal DNA and spindle microtubules to facilitate chromosome alignment and segregation. The proteins that comprise the kinetochore in the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei are divergent from yeast and mammals and comprise an inner kinetochore complex composed of 24 distinct proteins (KKT1 to KKT23, KKT25) that include four protein kinases, CLK1 (KKT10), CLK2 (KKT19), KKT2, and KKT3. We recently reported the identification of a specific trypanocidal inhibitor of T. brucei CLK1, an amidobenzimidazole, AB1. We now show that chemical inhibition of CLK1 with AB1 impairs inner kinetochore recruitment and compromises cell cycle progression, leading to cell death. Here, we show that KKT2 is a substrate for CLK1 and identify phosphorylation of S508 by CLK1 to be essential for KKT2 function and for kinetochore assembly. Additionally, KKT2 protein kinase activity is required for parasite proliferation but not for assembly of the inner kinetochore complex. We also show that chemical inhibition of the aurora kinase AUK1 does not affect CLK1 phosphorylation of KKT2, indicating that AUK1 and CLK1 are in separate regulatory pathways. We propose that CLK1 is part of a divergent signaling cascade that controls kinetochore function via phosphorylation of the inner kinetochore protein kinase KKT2. IMPORTANCE In eukaryotic cells, kinetochores are large protein complexes that link chromosomes to dynamic microtubule tips, ensuring proper segregation and genomic stability during cell division. Several proteins tightly coordinate kinetochore functions, including the protein kinase aurora kinase B. The kinetochore has diverse evolutionary roots. For example, trypanosomatids, single-cell parasitic protozoa that cause several neglected tropical diseases, possess a unique repertoire of kinetochore components whose regulation during the cell cycle remains unclear. Here, we shed light on trypanosomatid kinetochore biology by showing that the protein kinase CLK1 coordinates the assembly of the inner kinetochore by phosphorylating one of its components, KKT2, allowing the timely spatial recruitment of the rest of the kinetochore proteins and posterior attachment to microtubules in a process that is aurora kinase B independent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Saldivia
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, California, USA
| | - Adam J. M. Wollman
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
| | - Juliana B. T. Carnielli
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
| | - Nathaniel G. Jones
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
| | - Mark C. Leake
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher Bower-Lepts
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom
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Corrales RM, Vaselek S, Neish R, Berry L, Brunet CD, Crobu L, Kuk N, Mateos-Langerak J, Robinson DR, Volf P, Mottram JC, Sterkers Y, Bastien P. The kinesin of the flagellum attachment zone in Leishmania is required for cell morphogenesis, cell division and virulence in the mammalian host. PLoS Pathog 2021; 17:e1009666. [PMID: 34143858 PMCID: PMC8244899 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Revised: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Leishmania parasites possess a unique and complex cytoskeletal structure termed flagellum attachment zone (FAZ) connecting the base of the flagellum to one side of the flagellar pocket (FP), an invagination of the cell body membrane and the sole site for endocytosis and exocytosis. This structure is involved in FP architecture and cell morphogenesis, but its precise role and molecular composition remain enigmatic. Here, we characterized Leishmania FAZ7, the only known FAZ protein containing a kinesin motor domain, and part of a clade of trypanosomatid-specific kinesins with unknown functions. The two paralogs of FAZ7, FAZ7A and FAZ7B, display different localizations and functions. FAZ7A localizes at the basal body, while FAZ7B localizes at the distal part of the FP, where the FAZ structure is present in Leishmania. While null mutants of FAZ7A displayed normal growth rates, the deletion of FAZ7B impaired cell growth in both promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania. The kinesin activity is crucial for its function. Deletion of FAZ7B resulted in altered cell division, cell morphogenesis (including flagellum length), and FP structure and function. Furthermore, knocking out FAZ7B induced a mis-localization of two of the FAZ proteins, and disrupted the molecular organization of the FP collar, affecting the localization of its components. Loss of the kinesin FAZ7B has important consequences in the insect vector and mammalian host by reducing proliferation in the sand fly and pathogenicity in mice. Our findings reveal the pivotal role of the only FAZ kinesin as part of the factors important for a successful life cycle of Leishmania. Leishmania are flagellated trypanosomatid parasites causing worldwide human and animal diseases. As ’divergent eukaryotes’, their biology presents unique features and structures, of which the specific functions constitute potential drug targets. Among others, they possess a unique cytoskeletal structure termed the flagellum attachment zone (FAZ) attaching the base of their flagellum to one side of the flagellar pocket (FP), which is the sole site for endocytosis and exocytosis. The FP together with other unique flagellum-associated structures are crucial for parasite survival, but the functioning of this whole remains largely enigmatic. Leishmania also possess an expanded repertoire of kinesins (>55), including two trypanosomatid-specific families. Here, we show that the deletion of the sole kinesin among FAZ proteins disrupts cell morphogenesis, FP organisation and cell division. Furthermore, the ability to proliferate in the insect vector and mammalian host is reduced in parasites lacking the kinesin FAZ7B. This study helps elucidate the factors contributing to the successful lifecycle and pathogenicity of the parasite. It also highlights the functional diversification of motor proteins during evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosa Milagros Corrales
- Research Unit “MiVEGEC”, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Academic Hospital (CHU) of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
- * E-mail: (RMC); (PB)
| | - Slavica Vaselek
- Department of Parasitology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Rachel Neish
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Laurence Berry
- Research Unit “LPHI” (Laboratory of Pathogen Host Interactions), University of Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France
| | - Camille D. Brunet
- Research Unit “MiVEGEC”, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Academic Hospital (CHU) of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Lucien Crobu
- Research Unit “MiVEGEC”, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Academic Hospital (CHU) of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Nada Kuk
- Research Unit “MiVEGEC”, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Academic Hospital (CHU) of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | | | - Derrick R. Robinson
- Research Unit “Fundamental Microbiology and Pathogenicity”, “Protist Parasite Cytoskeleton (ProParaCyto)”, University of Bordeaux, UMR 5234, CNRS, Bordeaux, France
| | - Petr Volf
- Department of Parasitology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Yvon Sterkers
- Research Unit “MiVEGEC”, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Academic Hospital (CHU) of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Patrick Bastien
- Research Unit “MiVEGEC”, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Academic Hospital (CHU) of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
- * E-mail: (RMC); (PB)
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20
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Levy DJ, Goundry A, Laires RSS, Costa TFR, Novo CM, Grab DJ, Mottram JC, Lima APCA. Role of the inhibitor of serine peptidase 2 (ISP2) of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense in parasite virulence and modulation of the inflammatory responses of the host. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021; 15:e0009526. [PMID: 34153047 PMCID: PMC8248637 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2020] [Revised: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense is one of the causative agents of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), known as sleeping sickness. The parasite invades the central nervous system and causes severe encephalitis that is fatal if left untreated. We have previously identified ecotin-like inhibitors of serine peptidases, named ISPs, in trypanosomatid parasitic protozoa. Here, we investigated the role of ISP2 in bloodstream form T. b. rhodesiense. We generated gene-deficient mutants lacking ISP2 (Δisp2), which displayed a growth profile in vitro similar to that of wild-type (WT) parasites. C57BL/6 mice infected with Δisp2 displayed lower blood parasitemia, a delayed hind leg pathological phenotype and survived longer. The immune response was examined at two time-points that corresponded with two peaks of parasitemia. At 4 days, the spleens of Δisp2-infected mice had a greater percentage of NOS2+ myeloid cells, IFN-γ+-NK cells and increased TNF-α compared to those infected with WT and parasites re-expressing ISP2 (Δisp2:ISP2). By 13 days the increased NOS2+ population was sustained in Δisp2-infected mice, along with increased percentages of monocyte-derived dendritic cells, as well as CD19+ B lymphocytes, and CD8+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes. Taken together, these findings indicate that ISP2 contributes to T. b. rhodesiense virulence in mice and attenuates the inflammatory response during early infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Jessula Levy
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Amy Goundry
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Raquel S. S. Laires
- Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Tatiana F. R. Costa
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Carlos Mendes Novo
- Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Dennis J. Grab
- Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland; Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Ana Paula C. A. Lima
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
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21
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Gonçalves CS, Catta-Preta CMC, Repolês B, Mottram JC, De Souza W, Machado CR, Motta MCM. Importance of Angomonas deanei KAP4 for kDNA arrangement, cell division and maintenance of the host-bacterium relationship. Sci Rep 2021; 11:9210. [PMID: 33911164 PMCID: PMC8080567 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88685-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Angomonas deanei coevolves in a mutualistic relationship with a symbiotic bacterium that divides in synchronicity with other host cell structures. Trypanosomatid mitochondrial DNA is contained in the kinetoplast and is composed of thousands of interlocked DNA circles (kDNA). The arrangement of kDNA is related to the presence of histone-like proteins, known as KAPs (kinetoplast-associated proteins), that neutralize the negatively charged kDNA, thereby affecting the activity of mitochondrial enzymes involved in replication, transcription and repair. In this study, CRISPR-Cas9 was used to delete both alleles of the A. deanei KAP4 gene. Gene-deficient mutants exhibited high compaction of the kDNA network and displayed atypical phenotypes, such as the appearance of a filamentous symbionts, cells containing two nuclei and one kinetoplast, and division blocks. Treatment with cisplatin and UV showed that Δkap4 null mutants were not more sensitive to DNA damage and repair than wild-type cells. Notably, lesions caused by these genotoxic agents in the mitochondrial DNA could be repaired, suggesting that the kDNA in the kinetoplast of trypanosomatids has unique repair mechanisms. Taken together, our data indicate that although KAP4 is not an essential protein, it plays important roles in kDNA arrangement and replication, as well as in the maintenance of symbiosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camila Silva Gonçalves
- Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular Hertha Meyer, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, IBCCF, CCS, UFRJ, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 21941-590, Brazil.,Centro Nacional de Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | | | - Bruno Repolês
- Laboratório de Genética Bioquímica, Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Wanderley De Souza
- Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular Hertha Meyer, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, IBCCF, CCS, UFRJ, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 21941-590, Brazil.,Centro Nacional de Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Carlos Renato Machado
- Laboratório de Genética Bioquímica, Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
| | - Maria Cristina M Motta
- Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular Hertha Meyer, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, IBCCF, CCS, UFRJ, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 21941-590, Brazil. .,Centro Nacional de Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
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22
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Black JA, Crouch K, Lemgruber L, Lapsley C, Dickens N, Tosi LRO, Mottram JC, McCulloch R. Trypanosoma brucei ATR Links DNA Damage Signaling during Antigenic Variation with Regulation of RNA Polymerase I-Transcribed Surface Antigens. Cell Rep 2021; 30:836-851.e5. [PMID: 31968257 PMCID: PMC6988115 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.12.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2018] [Revised: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Trypanosoma brucei evades mammalian immunity by using recombination to switch its surface-expressed variant surface glycoprotein (VSG), while ensuring that only one of many subtelomeric multigene VSG expression sites are transcribed at a time. DNA repair activities have been implicated in the catalysis of VSG switching by recombination, not transcriptional control. How VSG switching is signaled to guide the appropriate reaction or to integrate switching into parasite growth is unknown. Here, we show that the loss of ATR, a DNA damage-signaling protein kinase, is lethal, causing nuclear genome instability and increased VSG switching through VSG-localized damage. Furthermore, ATR loss leads to the increased transcription of silent VSG expression sites and expression of mixed VSGs on the cell surface, effects that are associated with the altered localization of RNA polymerase I and VEX1. This work shows that ATR acts in antigenic variation both through DNA damage signaling and surface antigen expression control. Loss of the repair protein kinase ATR in Trypanosoma brucei is lethal Loss of T. brucei ATR alters VSG coat expression needed for immune evasion Monoallelic RNA polymerase I VSG expression is undermined by ATR loss ATR loss leads to expression of subtelomeric VSGs, indicative of recombination
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Ann Black
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Sir Graeme Davis Building, 120 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK; Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900 SP, Brazil
| | - Kathryn Crouch
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Sir Graeme Davis Building, 120 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
| | - Leandro Lemgruber
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Sir Graeme Davis Building, 120 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
| | - Craig Lapsley
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Sir Graeme Davis Building, 120 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
| | - Nicholas Dickens
- Marine Science Lab, FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, 5600 US 1 North, Fort Pierce, FL 34946, USA
| | - Luiz R O Tosi
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900 SP, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Richard McCulloch
- The Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Sir Graeme Davis Building, 120 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK.
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23
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Baker N, Catta-Preta CMC, Neish R, Sadlova J, Powell B, Alves-Ferreira EVC, Geoghegan V, Carnielli JBT, Newling K, Hughes C, Vojtkova B, Anand J, Mihut A, Walrad PB, Wilson LG, Pitchford JW, Volf P, Mottram JC. Systematic functional analysis of Leishmania protein kinases identifies regulators of differentiation or survival. Nat Commun 2021; 12:1244. [PMID: 33623024 PMCID: PMC7902614 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21360-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Differentiation between distinct stages is fundamental for the life cycle of intracellular protozoan parasites and for transmission between hosts, requiring stringent spatial and temporal regulation. Here, we apply kinome-wide gene deletion and gene tagging in Leishmania mexicana promastigotes to define protein kinases with life cycle transition roles. Whilst 162 are dispensable, 44 protein kinase genes are refractory to deletion in promastigotes and are likely core genes required for parasite replication. Phenotyping of pooled gene deletion mutants using bar-seq and projection pursuit clustering reveal functional phenotypic groups of protein kinases involved in differentiation from metacyclic promastigote to amastigote, growth and survival in macrophages and mice, colonisation of the sand fly and motility. This unbiased interrogation of protein kinase function in Leishmania allows targeted investigation of organelle-associated signalling pathways required for successful intracellular parasitism.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Baker
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - C M C Catta-Preta
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - R Neish
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - J Sadlova
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - B Powell
- Department of Mathematics, University of York, York, UK
| | - E V C Alves-Ferreira
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - V Geoghegan
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - J B T Carnielli
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - K Newling
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - C Hughes
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - B Vojtkova
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - J Anand
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - A Mihut
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - P B Walrad
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - L G Wilson
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Physics, University of York, York, UK
| | - J W Pitchford
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Mathematics, University of York, York, UK
| | - P Volf
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - J C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK.
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
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24
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McNae IW, Kinkead J, Malik D, Yen LH, Walker MK, Swain C, Webster SP, Gray N, Fernandes PM, Myburgh E, Blackburn EA, Ritchie R, Austin C, Wear MA, Highton AJ, Keats AJ, Vong A, Dornan J, Mottram JC, Michels PAM, Pettit S, Walkinshaw MD. Fast acting allosteric phosphofructokinase inhibitors block trypanosome glycolysis and cure acute African trypanosomiasis in mice. Nat Commun 2021; 12:1052. [PMID: 33594070 PMCID: PMC7887271 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21273-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The parasitic protist Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of Human African Trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness. The parasite enters the blood via the bite of the tsetse fly where it is wholly reliant on glycolysis for the production of ATP. Glycolytic enzymes have been regarded as challenging drug targets because of their highly conserved active sites and phosphorylated substrates. We describe the development of novel small molecule allosteric inhibitors of trypanosome phosphofructokinase (PFK) that block the glycolytic pathway resulting in very fast parasite kill times with no inhibition of human PFKs. The compounds cross the blood brain barrier and single day oral dosing cures parasitaemia in a stage 1 animal model of human African trypanosomiasis. This study demonstrates that it is possible to target glycolysis and additionally shows how differences in allosteric mechanisms may allow the development of species-specific inhibitors to tackle a range of proliferative or infectious diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iain W McNae
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - James Kinkead
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Divya Malik
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Li-Hsuan Yen
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Martin K Walker
- Selcia Ltd., Fyfield Business and Research Park, Fyfield Road, Ongar, Essex, UK
| | | | - Scott P Webster
- Centre for Cardiovascular Science, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Nick Gray
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Peter M Fernandes
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Elmarie Myburgh
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of York, York, UK
| | - Elizabeth A Blackburn
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Ryan Ritchie
- Institute of Infection Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical Veterinary Life-Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Carol Austin
- Selcia Ltd., Fyfield Business and Research Park, Fyfield Road, Ongar, Essex, UK
| | - Martin A Wear
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Adrian J Highton
- Selcia Ltd., Fyfield Business and Research Park, Fyfield Road, Ongar, Essex, UK
| | - Andrew J Keats
- Selcia Ltd., Fyfield Business and Research Park, Fyfield Road, Ongar, Essex, UK
| | - Antonio Vong
- Selcia Ltd., Fyfield Business and Research Park, Fyfield Road, Ongar, Essex, UK
| | - Jacqueline Dornan
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Paul A M Michels
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Simon Pettit
- Selcia Ltd., Fyfield Business and Research Park, Fyfield Road, Ongar, Essex, UK.
| | - Malcolm D Walkinshaw
- Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, UK.
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25
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Davey JW, Catta-Preta CMC, James S, Forrester S, Motta MCM, Ashton PD, Mottram JC. Chromosomal assembly of the nuclear genome of the endosymbiont-bearing trypanosomatid Angomonas deanei. G3 (Bethesda) 2021; 11:jkaa018. [PMID: 33561222 PMCID: PMC8022732 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkaa018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Angomonas deanei is an endosymbiont-bearing trypanosomatid with several highly fragmented genome assemblies and unknown chromosome number. We present an assembly of the A. deanei nuclear genome based on Oxford Nanopore sequence that resolves into 29 complete or close-to-complete chromosomes. The assembly has several previously unknown special features; it has a supernumerary chromosome, a chromosome with a 340-kb inversion, and there is a translocation between two chromosomes. We also present an updated annotation of the chromosomal genome with 10,365 protein-coding genes, 59 transfer RNAs, 26 ribosomal RNAs, and 62 noncoding RNAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- John W Davey
- Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Carolina M C Catta-Preta
- Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
- Medicinal Chemistry Center (CQMED)/Structural Genomics Consortium, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo 13083-886, Brazil
| | - Sally James
- Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Sarah Forrester
- Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Maria Cristina M Motta
- Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular Hertha Meyer, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Departamento de Biologia Celular e Parasitologia, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
- Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagens, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Peter D Ashton
- Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
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26
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Burge RJ, Damianou A, Wilkinson AJ, Rodenko B, Mottram JC. Leishmania differentiation requires ubiquitin conjugation mediated by a UBC2-UEV1 E2 complex. PLoS Pathog 2020; 16:e1008784. [PMID: 33108402 PMCID: PMC7647121 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Revised: 11/06/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Post-translational modifications such as ubiquitination are important for orchestrating the cellular transformations that occur as the Leishmania parasite differentiates between its main morphological forms, the promastigote and amastigote. 2 E1 ubiquitin-activating (E1), 13 E2 ubiquitin-conjugating (E2), 79 E3 ubiquitin ligase (E3) and 20 deubiquitinating cysteine peptidase (DUB) genes can be identified in the Leishmania mexicana genome but, currently, little is known about the role of E1, E2 and E3 enzymes in this parasite. Bar-seq analysis of 23 E1, E2 and HECT/RBR E3 null mutants generated in promastigotes using CRISPR-Cas9 revealed numerous loss-of-fitness phenotypes in promastigote to amastigote differentiation and mammalian infection. The E2s UBC1/CDC34, UBC2 and UEV1 and the HECT E3 ligase HECT2 are required for the successful transformation from promastigote to amastigote and UBA1b, UBC9, UBC14, HECT7 and HECT11 are required for normal proliferation during mouse infection. Of all ubiquitination enzyme null mutants examined in the screen, Δubc2 and Δuev1 exhibited the most extreme loss-of-fitness during differentiation. Null mutants could not be generated for the E1 UBA1a or the E2s UBC3, UBC7, UBC12 and UBC13, suggesting these genes are essential in promastigotes. X-ray crystal structure analysis of UBC2 and UEV1, orthologues of human UBE2N and UBE2V1/UBE2V2 respectively, reveal a heterodimer with a highly conserved structure and interface. Furthermore, recombinant L. mexicana UBA1a can load ubiquitin onto UBC2, allowing UBC2-UEV1 to form K63-linked di-ubiquitin chains in vitro. Notably, UBC2 can cooperate in vitro with human E3s RNF8 and BIRC2 to form non-K63-linked polyubiquitin chains, showing that UBC2 can facilitate ubiquitination independent of UEV1, but association of UBC2 with UEV1 inhibits this ability. Our study demonstrates the dual essentiality of UBC2 and UEV1 in the differentiation and intracellular survival of L. mexicana and shows that the interaction between these two proteins is crucial for regulation of their ubiquitination activity and function. The post-translational modification of proteins is key for allowing Leishmania parasites to transition between the different life cycle stages that exist in its insect vector and mammalian host. In particular, components of the ubiquitin system are important for the transformation of Leishmania from its insect (promastigote) to mammalian (amastigote) stage and normal infection in mice. However, little is known about the role of the enzymes that generate ubiquitin modifications in Leishmania. Here we characterise 28 enzymes of the ubiquitination pathway and show that many are required for life cycle progression or mouse infection by this parasite. Two proteins, UBC2 and UEV1, were selected for further study based on their importance in the promastigote to amastigote transition. We demonstrate that UBC2 and UEV1 form a heterodimer capable of carrying out ubiquitination and that the structural basis for this activity is conserved between Leishmania, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and humans. We also show that the interaction of UBC2 with UEV1 alters the nature of the ubiquitination activity performed by UBC2. Overall, we demonstrate the important role that ubiquitination enzymes play in the life cycle and infection process of Leishmania and explore the biochemistry underlying UBC2 and UEV1 function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca J. Burge
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas Damianou
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Anthony J. Wilkinson
- York Biomedical Research Institute and York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Boris Rodenko
- UbiQ Bio BV, Amsterdam Science Park, the Netherlands
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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27
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Halliday C, Yanase R, Catta-Preta CMC, Moreira-Leite F, Myskova J, Pruzinova K, Volf P, Mottram JC, Sunter JD. Role for the flagellum attachment zone in Leishmania anterior cell tip morphogenesis. PLoS Pathog 2020; 16:e1008494. [PMID: 33091070 PMCID: PMC7608989 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2020] [Revised: 11/03/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The shape and form of the flagellated eukaryotic parasite Leishmania is sculpted to its ecological niches and needs to be transmitted to each generation with great fidelity. The shape of the Leishmania cell is defined by the sub-pellicular microtubule array and the positioning of the nucleus, kinetoplast and the flagellum within this array. The flagellum emerges from the anterior end of the cell body through an invagination of the cell body membrane called the flagellar pocket. Within the flagellar pocket the flagellum is laterally attached to the side of the flagellar pocket by a cytoskeletal structure called the flagellum attachment zone (FAZ). During the cell cycle single copy organelles duplicate with a new flagellum assembling alongside the old flagellum. These are then segregated between the two daughter cells by cytokinesis, which initiates at the anterior cell tip. Here, we have investigated the role of the FAZ in the morphogenesis of the anterior cell tip. We have deleted the FAZ filament protein, FAZ2 and investigated its function using light and electron microscopy and infection studies. The loss of FAZ2 caused a disruption to the membrane organisation at the anterior cell tip, resulting in cells that were connected to each other by a membranous bridge structure between their flagella. Moreover, the FAZ2 null mutant was unable to develop and proliferate in sand flies and had a reduced parasite burden in mice. Our study provides a deeper understanding of membrane-cytoskeletal interactions that define the shape and form of an individual cell and the remodelling of that form during cell division. Leishmania are parasites that cause leishmaniasis in humans with symptoms ranging from mild cutaneous lesions to severe visceral disease. The life cycle of these parasites alternates between the human host and the sand fly vector, with distinct forms in both. These different forms have different cell shapes that are adapted for survival in these different environments. Leishmania parasites have an elongated cell shape with a flagellum extending from one end and this shape is due to a protein skeleton beneath the cell membrane. This skeleton is made up of different units one of which is called the flagellum attachment zone (FAZ), that connects the flagellum to the cell body. We have found that one of the proteins in the FAZ called FAZ2 is important for generating the shape of the cell at the point where the flagellum exits the cell. When we deleted FAZ2 we found that the cell membrane at the end of the cell was distorted resulting in unusual connections between the flagella of different cells. We found that the disruption to the cell shape reduces the ability of the parasite to infect mice and develop in the sand fly, which shows the importance of the parasite shape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare Halliday
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Ryuji Yanase
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Shizuoka, Japan
| | | | - Flavia Moreira-Leite
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Jitka Myskova
- Department of Parasitology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | - Petr Volf
- Department of Parasitology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Jack D. Sunter
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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28
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Saldivia M, Fang E, Ma X, Myburgh E, Carnielli JBT, Bower-Lepts C, Brown E, Ritchie R, Lakshminarayana SB, Chen YL, Patra D, Ornelas E, Koh HXY, Williams SL, Supek F, Paape D, McCulloch R, Kaiser M, Barrett MP, Jiricek J, Diagana TT, Mottram JC, Rao SPS. Targeting the trypanosome kinetochore with CLK1 protein kinase inhibitors. Nat Microbiol 2020; 5:1207-1216. [PMID: 32661312 PMCID: PMC7610364 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-020-0745-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The kinetochore is a macromolecular structure that assembles on the centromeres of chromosomes and provides the major attachment point for spindle microtubules during mitosis. In Trypanosoma brucei, the proteins that make up the kinetochore are highly divergent; the inner kinetochore comprises at least 20 distinct and essential proteins (KKT1-20) that include four protein kinases-CLK1 (also known as KKT10), CLK2 (also known as KKT19), KKT2 and KKT3. Here, we report the identification and characterization of the amidobenzimidazoles (AB) protein kinase inhibitors that show nanomolar potency against T. brucei bloodstream forms, Leishmania and Trypanosoma cruzi. We performed target deconvolution analysis using a selection of 29 T. brucei mutants that overexpress known essential protein kinases, and identified CLK1 as a primary target. Biochemical studies and the co-crystal structure of CLK1 in complex with AB1 show that the irreversible competitive inhibition of CLK1 is dependent on a Michael acceptor forming an irreversible bond with Cys 215 in the ATP-binding pocket, a residue that is not present in human CLK1, thereby providing selectivity. Chemical inhibition of CLK1 impairs inner kinetochore recruitment and compromises cell-cycle progression, leading to cell death. This research highlights a unique drug target for trypanosomatid parasitic protozoa and a new chemical tool for investigating the function of their divergent kinetochores.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Saldivia
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Eric Fang
- Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Xiaolei Ma
- Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Elmarie Myburgh
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of York, York, UK
| | - Juliana B T Carnielli
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | | | - Elaine Brown
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Ryan Ritchie
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | | | - Yen-Liang Chen
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Debjani Patra
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | | | - Hazel X Y Koh
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Sarah L Williams
- Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Frantisek Supek
- Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Daniel Paape
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Richard McCulloch
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Marcel Kaiser
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Michael P Barrett
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Jan Jiricek
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | | | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
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29
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Damianou A, Burge RJ, Catta-Preta CMC, Geoghegan V, Nievas YR, Newling K, Brown E, Burchmore R, Rodenko B, Mottram JC. Essential roles for deubiquitination in Leishmania life cycle progression. PLoS Pathog 2020; 16:e1008455. [PMID: 32544189 PMCID: PMC7319358 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Revised: 06/26/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The parasitic protozoan Leishmania requires proteasomal, autophagic and lysosomal proteolytic pathways to enact the extensive cellular remodelling that occurs during its life cycle. The proteasome is essential for parasite proliferation, yet little is known about the requirement for ubiquitination/deubiquitination processes in growth and differentiation. Activity-based protein profiling of L. mexicana C12, C19 and C65 deubiquitinating cysteine peptidases (DUBs) revealed DUB activity remains relatively constant during differentiation of procyclic promastigote to amastigote. However, when life cycle phenotyping (bar-seq) was performed on a pool including 15 barcoded DUB null mutants created in promastigotes using CRISPR-Cas9, significant loss of fitness was observed during differentiation and intracellular infection. DUBs 4, 7, and 13 are required for successful transformation from metacyclic promastigote to amastigote and DUBs 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 14 are required for normal amastigote proliferation in mice. DUBs 1, 2, 12 and 16 are essential for promastigote viability and the essential role of DUB2 in establishing infection was demonstrated using DiCre inducible gene deletion in vitro and in vivo. DUB2 is found in the nucleus and interacts with nuclear proteins associated with transcription/chromatin dynamics, mRNA splicing and mRNA capping. DUB2 has broad linkage specificity, cleaving all the di-ubiquitin chains except for Lys27 and Met1. Our study demonstrates the crucial role that DUBs play in differentiation and intracellular survival of Leishmania and that amastigotes are exquisitely sensitive to disruption of ubiquitination homeostasis. Leishmania parasites require a variety of protein degradation pathways to enable the parasite to transition through the various life cycle stages that occur in its insect and mammalian hosts. Several enzymes involved in protein degradation in Leishmania are known to be essential, including a multi-protein complex, the proteasome, but little is known about how proteins are targeted to the proteasome for degradation. Here, we analyse components of the deubiquitination pathway, including twenty cysteine peptidases (DUBs) that remove the posttranslational modifier ubiquitin from substrates tagged for proteasomal degradation. We used chemical probes to measure active enzymes in parasite lysates and genome engineering to create DUB gene deletion mutants. We identified some DUBs that are essential for parasite viability and some that are required for life cycle progression. We carried out a detailed analysis of the essential DUB2, which has broad deubiquitinase activity and is found in the nucleus. This enzyme interacts with nuclear proteins associated with transcription/chromatin dynamics, mRNA splicing and mRNA capping. This work demonstrates the important role that DUBs play in Leishmania in vivo infection and further validates DUBs as potential drug targets in this parasite.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Damianou
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Rebecca J. Burge
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | | | - Vincent Geoghegan
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Y. Romina Nievas
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Katherine Newling
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Elaine Brown
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Richard Burchmore
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Boris Rodenko
- UbiQ Bio BV, Amsterdam Science Park, The Netherlands
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute and Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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30
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Carnielli JBT, Monti-Rocha R, Costa DL, Molina Sesana A, Pansini LNN, Segatto M, Mottram JC, Costa CHN, Carvalho SFG, Dietze R. Natural Resistance of Leishmania infantum to Miltefosine Contributes to the Low Efficacy in the Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Brazil. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2020; 101:789-794. [PMID: 31436148 PMCID: PMC6779219 DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.18-0949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
In India, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania donovani has been successfully treated with miltefosine with a cure rate of > 90%. To assess the efficacy and safety of oral miltefosine against Brazilian VL, which is caused by Leishmania infantum, a phase II, open-label, dose-escalation study of oral miltefosine was conducted in children (aged 2-12 years) and adolescent-adults (aged 13-60 years). Definitive cure was assessed at a 6-month follow-up visit. The cure rate was only 42% (6 of 14 patients) with a recommended treatment of 28 days and 68% (19 of 28 patients) with an extended treatment of 42 days. The in vitro miltefosine susceptibility profile of intracellular amastigote stages of the pretreatment isolates, from cured and relapsed patients, showed a positive correlation with the clinical outcome. The IC50 mean (SEM) of eventual cures was 5.1 (0.4) µM, whereas that of eventual failures was 12.8 (1.9) µM (P = 0.0002). An IC50 above 8.0 µM predicts failure with 82% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The finding of L. infantum amastigotes resistant to miltefosine in isolates from patients who eventually failed treatment strongly suggests natural resistance to this drug, as miltefosine had never been used in Brazil before this trial was carried out.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana B T Carnielli
- Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil.,York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Renata Monti-Rocha
- Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil
| | - Dorcas Lamounier Costa
- Instituto Natan Portella para Doenças Tropicais, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina, Brazil
| | - Aretha Molina Sesana
- Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil
| | - Laura N N Pansini
- Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil
| | - Marcela Segatto
- Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | | | - Sílvio F G Carvalho
- Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Brazil
| | - Reynaldo Dietze
- Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil.,Global Health and Tropical Medicine, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
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31
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Minina EA, Staal J, Alvarez VE, Berges JA, Berman-Frank I, Beyaert R, Bidle KD, Bornancin F, Casanova M, Cazzulo JJ, Choi CJ, Coll NS, Dixit VM, Dolinar M, Fasel N, Funk C, Gallois P, Gevaert K, Gutierrez-Beltran E, Hailfinger S, Klemenčič M, Koonin EV, Krappmann D, Linusson A, Machado MFM, Madeo F, Megeney LA, Moschou PN, Mottram JC, Nyström T, Osiewacz HD, Overall CM, Pandey KC, Ruland J, Salvesen GS, Shi Y, Smertenko A, Stael S, Ståhlberg J, Suárez MF, Thome M, Tuominen H, Van Breusegem F, van der Hoorn RAL, Vardi A, Zhivotovsky B, Lam E, Bozhkov PV. Classification and Nomenclature of Metacaspases and Paracaspases: No More Confusion with Caspases. Mol Cell 2020; 77:927-929. [PMID: 32142688 PMCID: PMC7325697 DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Revised: 12/16/2019] [Accepted: 12/23/2019] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Elena A Minina
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, Sweden; COS, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Jens Staal
- VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Vanina E Alvarez
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de San Martin, San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - John A Berges
- Department of Biological Sciences and School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Ilana Berman-Frank
- Department of Marine Biology, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Rudi Beyaert
- VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Kay D Bidle
- Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | | | - Magali Casanova
- Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, LISM, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France
| | - Juan J Cazzulo
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de San Martin, San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Chang Jae Choi
- The University of Texas at Austin, Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, TX, USA
| | - Nuria S Coll
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Vishva M Dixit
- Department of Physiological Chemistry, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Marko Dolinar
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Nicolas Fasel
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | | | - Patrick Gallois
- Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Kris Gevaert
- VIB Center for Medical Biotechnology, Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Emilio Gutierrez-Beltran
- Instituto de Bioquímica Vegetal y Fotosíntesis, Universidad de Sevilla and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Stephan Hailfinger
- Interfaculty Institute for Biochemistry, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Marina Klemenčič
- University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Eugene V Koonin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Daniel Krappmann
- Research Unit Cellular Signal Integration, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Anna Linusson
- Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Maurício F M Machado
- Interdisciplinary Center for Biochemical Research, University of Mogi das Cruzes, Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil
| | - Frank Madeo
- Institute of Molecular Biosciences, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, BioTechMed Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Lynn A Megeney
- Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Departments of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Panagiotis N Moschou
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Heraklion, Greece; Department of Biology, University of Crete, Greece; Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Thomas Nyström
- Institute for Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, Centre for Ageing and Health - AgeCap, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Heinz D Osiewacz
- Institute for Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
| | - Christopher M Overall
- Departments of Oral Biological and Medical Sciences and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Kailash C Pandey
- Protein Biochemistry and Engineering Laboratory, ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Jürgen Ruland
- Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Munich, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Munich, Germany
| | - Guy S Salvesen
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Yigong Shi
- School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Xihu District, Hangzhou Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Andrei Smertenko
- Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Simon Stael
- VIB Center for Medical Biotechnology, Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jerry Ståhlberg
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - María Fernanda Suárez
- Departamento de Biologia Molecular y Bioquimica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Malaga, Campus de Teatinos, Malaga, Spain
| | - Margot Thome
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Hannele Tuominen
- Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Frank Van Breusegem
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Assaf Vardi
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Boris Zhivotovsky
- Division of Toxicology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Faculty of Fundamental Medicine, MV Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Eric Lam
- Department of Plant Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ USA
| | - Peter V Bozhkov
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, Sweden.
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Dickie EA, Giordani F, Gould MK, Mäser P, Burri C, Mottram JC, Rao SPS, Barrett MP. New Drugs for Human African Trypanosomiasis: A Twenty First Century Success Story. Trop Med Infect Dis 2020; 5:tropicalmed5010029. [PMID: 32092897 PMCID: PMC7157223 DOI: 10.3390/tropicalmed5010029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2020] [Revised: 02/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The twentieth century ended with human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) epidemics raging across many parts of Africa. Resistance to existing drugs was emerging, and many programs aiming to contain the disease had ground to a halt, given previous success against HAT and the competing priorities associated with other medical crises ravaging the continent. A series of dedicated interventions and the introduction of innovative routes to develop drugs, involving Product Development Partnerships, has led to a dramatic turnaround in the fight against HAT caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. The World Health Organization have been able to optimize the use of existing tools to monitor and intervene in the disease. A promising new oral medication for stage 1 HAT, pafuramidine maleate, ultimately failed due to unforeseen toxicity issues. However, the clinical trials for this compound demonstrated the possibility of conducting such trials in the resource-poor settings of rural Africa. The Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative (DNDi), founded in 2003, has developed the first all oral therapy for both stage 1 and stage 2 HAT in fexinidazole. DNDi has also brought forward another oral therapy, acoziborole, potentially capable of curing both stage 1 and stage 2 disease in a single dosing. In this review article, we describe the remarkable successes in combating HAT through the twenty first century, bringing the prospect of the elimination of this disease into sight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily A. Dickie
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK; (E.A.D.); (F.G.); (M.K.G.)
| | - Federica Giordani
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK; (E.A.D.); (F.G.); (M.K.G.)
| | - Matthew K. Gould
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK; (E.A.D.); (F.G.); (M.K.G.)
| | - Pascal Mäser
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland; (P.M.); (C.B.)
| | - Christian Burri
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland; (P.M.); (C.B.)
- University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, 4000 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK;
| | - Srinivasa P. S. Rao
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA;
| | - Michael P. Barrett
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK; (E.A.D.); (F.G.); (M.K.G.)
- Correspondence:
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Rao SPS, Lakshminarayana SB, Jiricek J, Kaiser M, Ritchie R, Myburgh E, Supek F, Tuntland T, Nagle A, Molteni V, Mäser P, Mottram JC, Barrett MP, Diagana TT. Anti-Trypanosomal Proteasome Inhibitors Cure Hemolymphatic and Meningoencephalic Murine Infection Models of African Trypanosomiasis. Trop Med Infect Dis 2020; 5:tropicalmed5010028. [PMID: 32079320 PMCID: PMC7157554 DOI: 10.3390/tropicalmed5010028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Revised: 02/11/2020] [Accepted: 02/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Current anti-trypanosomal therapies suffer from problems of longer treatment duration, toxicity and inadequate efficacy, hence there is a need for safer, more efficacious and ‘easy to use’ oral drugs. Previously, we reported the discovery of the triazolopyrimidine (TP) class as selective kinetoplastid proteasome inhibitors with in vivo efficacy in mouse models of leishmaniasis, Chagas Disease and African trypanosomiasis (HAT). For the treatment of HAT, development compounds need to have excellent penetration to the brain to cure the meningoencephalic stage of the disease. Here we describe detailed biological and pharmacological characterization of triazolopyrimidine compounds in HAT specific assays. The TP class of compounds showed single digit nanomolar potency against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense strains. These compounds are trypanocidal with concentration-time dependent kill and achieved relapse-free cure in vitro. Two compounds, GNF6702 and a new analog NITD689, showed favorable in vivo pharmacokinetics and significant brain penetration, which enabled oral dosing. They also achieved complete cure in both hemolymphatic (blood) and meningoencephalic (brain) infection of human African trypanosomiasis mouse models. Mode of action studies on this series confirmed the 20S proteasome as the target in T. brucei. These proteasome inhibitors have the potential for further development into promising new treatment for human African trypanosomiasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srinivasa P S Rao
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA; (S.B.L.); (J.J.); (T.T.D.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Suresh B Lakshminarayana
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA; (S.B.L.); (J.J.); (T.T.D.)
| | - Jan Jiricek
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA; (S.B.L.); (J.J.); (T.T.D.)
| | - Marcel Kaiser
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4501 Basel, Switzerland; (M.K.); (P.M.)
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, 4000 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ryan Ritchie
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK; (R.R.); (M.P.B.)
| | - Elmarie Myburgh
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK;
| | - Frantisek Supek
- Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, 10675 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA; (F.S.); (T.T.); (A.N.); (V.M.)
| | - Tove Tuntland
- Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, 10675 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA; (F.S.); (T.T.); (A.N.); (V.M.)
| | - Advait Nagle
- Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, 10675 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA; (F.S.); (T.T.); (A.N.); (V.M.)
| | - Valentina Molteni
- Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, 10675 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA; (F.S.); (T.T.); (A.N.); (V.M.)
| | - Pascal Mäser
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4501 Basel, Switzerland; (M.K.); (P.M.)
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, 4000 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK;
| | - Michael P Barrett
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK; (R.R.); (M.P.B.)
| | - Thierry T Diagana
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA; (S.B.L.); (J.J.); (T.T.D.)
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Forrester S, Siefert K, Ashwin H, Brown N, Zelmar A, James S, Lagos D, Timmis J, Chatterjee M, Mottram JC, Croft SL, Kaye PM. Tissue-specific transcriptomic changes associated with AmBisome® treatment of BALB/c mice with experimental visceral leishmaniasis. Wellcome Open Res 2019; 4:198. [PMID: 31976381 PMCID: PMC6961418 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15606.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome®) as a treatment modality for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has had significant impact on patient care in some but not all regions where VL is endemic. As the mode of action of AmBisome® in vivo is poorly understood, we compared the tissue-specific transcriptome in drug-treated vs untreated mice with experimental VL. Methods: BALB/c mice infected with L. donovani were treated with 8mg/kg AmBisome®, resulting in parasite elimination from liver and spleen over a 7-day period. At day 1 and day 7 post treatment (R x+1 and R x+7), transcriptomic profiling was performed on spleen and liver tissue from treated and untreated mice and uninfected mice. BALB/c mice infected with M. bovis BCG (an organism resistant to amphotericin B) were analysed to distinguish between direct effects of AmBisome® and those secondary to parasite death. Results: AmBisome® treatment lead to rapid parasitological clearance. At R x+1, spleen and liver displayed only 46 and 88 differentially expressed (DE) genes (P<0.05; 2-fold change) respectively. In liver, significant enrichment was seen for pathways associated with TNF, fatty acids and sterol biosynthesis. At R x+7, the number of DE genes was increased (spleen, 113; liver 400). In spleen, these included many immune related genes known to be involved in anti-leishmanial immunity. In liver, changes in transcriptome were largely accounted for by loss of granulomas. PCA analysis indicated that treatment only partially restored homeostasis. Analysis of BCG-infected mice treated with AmBisome® revealed a pattern of immune modulation mainly targeting macrophage function. Conclusions: Our data indicate that the tissue response to AmBisome® treatment varies between target organs and that full restoration of homeostasis is not achieved at parasitological cure. The pathways required to restore homeostasis deserve fuller attention, to understand mechanisms associated with treatment failure and relapse and to promote more rapid restoration of immune competence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Forrester
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Karin Siefert
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Helen Ashwin
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Najmeeyah Brown
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Andrea Zelmar
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Sally James
- Biosciences Technology Facility, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Dimitris Lagos
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jon Timmis
- Department of Electronic Engineering, University of York, UK, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Mitali Chatterjee
- Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, 700 020, India
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Simon L. Croft
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Paul M. Kaye
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
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Grewal JS, Catta-Preta CM, Brown E, Anand J, Mottram JC. Evaluation of clan CD C11 peptidase PNT1 and other Leishmania mexicana cysteine peptidases as potential drug targets. Biochimie 2019; 166:150-160. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2019.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2019] [Accepted: 08/26/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Dias BT, Dias-Teixeira KL, Godinho JP, Faria MS, Calegari-Silva T, Mukhtar MM, Lopes U, Mottram JC, Lima APCA. Neutrophil elastase promotes Leishmania donovani infection via interferon-β. FASEB J 2019; 33:10794-10807. [PMID: 31284755 PMCID: PMC6766642 DOI: 10.1096/fj.201900524r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Visceral leishmaniasis is a deadly illness caused by Leishmania donovani that provokes liver and spleen inflammation and tissue destruction. In cutaneous leishmaniasis, the protein of L. major, named inhibitor of serine peptidases (ISP) 2, inactivates neutrophil elastase (NE) present at the macrophage surface, resulting in blockade of TLR4 activation, prevention of TNF-α and IFN-β production, and parasite survival. We report poor intracellular growth of L. donovani in macrophages from knockout mice for NE (ela-/-), TLR4, or TLR2. NE and TLR4 colocalized with the parasite in the parasitophorous vacuole. Parasite load in the liver and spleen of ela-/- mice were reduced and accompanied by increased NO and decreased TGF-β production. Expression of ISP2 was not detected in L. donovani, and a transgenic line constitutively expressing ISP2, displayed poor intracellular growth in macrophages and decreased burden in mice. Infected ela-/- macrophages displayed significantly lower IFN-β mRNA than background mice macrophages, and the intracellular growth was fully restored by exogenous IFN-β. We propose that L. donovani utilizes the host NE-TLR machinery to induce IFN-β necessary for parasite survival and growth during early infection. Low or absent expression of parasite ISP2 in L. donovani is necessary to preserve the activation of the NE-TLR pathway.-Dias, B. T., Dias-Teixeira, K. L., Godinho, J. P., Faria, M. S., Calegari-Silva, T., Mukhtar, M. M., Lopes, U. G., Mottram, J. C., Lima, A. P. C. A. Neutrophil elastase promotes Leishmania donovani infection via interferon-β.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruna T Dias
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Karina Luisa Dias-Teixeira
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Joseane P Godinho
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Marilia S Faria
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Teresa Calegari-Silva
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Maowia M Mukhtar
- Bioscience Research Institute, Ibn Sina University, Khartoum, Sudan
| | - Ulisses Lopes
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Ana Paula C A Lima
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Damasceno JD, Obonaga R, Silva GLA, Reis-Cunha JL, Duncan SM, Bartholomeu DC, Mottram JC, McCulloch R, Tosi LRO. Conditional genome engineering reveals canonical and divergent roles for the Hus1 component of the 9-1-1 complex in the maintenance of the plastic genome of Leishmania. Nucleic Acids Res 2019; 46:11835-11846. [PMID: 30380080 PMCID: PMC6294564 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gky1017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2018] [Accepted: 10/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Leishmania species are protozoan parasites whose remarkably plastic genome limits the establishment of effective genetic manipulation and leishmaniasis treatment. The strategies used by Leishmania to maintain its genome while allowing variability are not fully understood. Here, we used DiCre-mediated conditional gene deletion to show that HUS1, a component of the 9-1-1 (RAD9-RAD1-HUS1) complex, is essential and is required for a G2/M checkpoint. By analyzing genome-wide instability in HUS1 ablated cells, HUS1 is shown to have a conserved role, by which it preserves genome stability and also a divergent role, by which it promotes genome variability. These roles of HUS1 are related to distinct patterns of formation and resolution of single-stranded DNA and γH2A, throughout the cell cycle. Our findings suggest that Leishmania 9-1-1 subunits have evolved to co-opt canonical genomic maintenance and genomic variation functions. Hence, this study reveals a pivotal function of HUS1 in balancing genome stability and transmission in Leishmania. These findings may be relevant to understanding the evolution of genome maintenance and plasticity in other pathogens and eukaryotes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeziel D Damasceno
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, SP, Brazil
| | - Ricardo Obonaga
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, SP, Brazil
| | - Gabriel L A Silva
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, SP, Brazil
| | - João L Reis-Cunha
- Laboratório de Genômica de Parasitos, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, MG, Brasil
| | - Samuel M Duncan
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
| | - Daniella C Bartholomeu
- Laboratório de Genômica de Parasitos, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, MG, Brasil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK.,Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Richard McCulloch
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK
| | - Luiz R O Tosi
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, SP, Brazil
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Rao SPS, Barrett MP, Dranoff G, Faraday CJ, Gimpelewicz CR, Hailu A, Jones CL, Kelly JM, Lazdins-Helds JK, Mäser P, Mengel J, Mottram JC, Mowbray CE, Sacks DL, Scott P, Späth GF, Tarleton RL, Spector JM, Diagana TT. Drug Discovery for Kinetoplastid Diseases: Future Directions. ACS Infect Dis 2019; 5:152-157. [PMID: 30543391 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.8b00298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Kinetoplastid parasites have caused human disease for millennia. Significant achievements have been made toward developing new treatments for leishmaniasis (particularly on the Indian subcontinent) and for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT). Moreover, the sustained decrease in the incidence of HAT has made the prospect of elimination a tantalizing reality. Despite the gains, no new chemical or biological entities to treat kinetoplastid diseases have been registered in more than three decades, and more work is needed to discover safe and effective therapies for patients with Chagas disease and leishmaniasis. Advances in tools for drug discovery and novel insights into the biology of the host-parasite interaction may provide opportunities for accelerated progress. Here, we summarize the output from a gathering of scientists and physicians who met to discuss the current status and future directions in drug discovery for kinetoplastid diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srinivasa P. S. Rao
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
| | - Michael P. Barrett
- University of Glasgow, University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, United Kingdom
| | - Glenn Dranoff
- Immuno-oncology, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR), 250 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Christopher J. Faraday
- Autoimmunity, Transplantation and Inflammation, NIBR, Fabrikstrasse 2, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland
| | | | - Asrat Hailu
- School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 28017 code 1000, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Catherine L. Jones
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
| | - John M. Kelly
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom
| | | | - Pascal Mäser
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4501 Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, CH 4000 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Jose Mengel
- Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ-RJ, Av. Brasil 4365, Cep: 21040-900, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil
- Faculty of Medicine of Petropolis, University in Petròpolis, Av. Barao do Rio Branco 1003, Cep: 25680-120, Petropolis-RJ, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- University of York, Wentworth Way Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
| | - Charles E. Mowbray
- Drugs for Neglected
Diseases initiative, 15 Chemin Louis-Dunant, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - David L. Sacks
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 4 Memorial Drive, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Phillip Scott
- University of Pennsylvania, 380 South University Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
| | - Gerald F. Späth
- Institut Pasteur, 25 Rue du Docteur Roux, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Rick L. Tarleton
- University of Georgia, Coverdell Center, 500 DW Brooks Dr, Athens, Georgia 30602, United States
| | - Jonathan M. Spector
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
| | - Thierry T. Diagana
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), 5300 Chiron Way, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
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Ashwin H, Seifert K, Forrester S, Brown N, MacDonald S, James S, Lagos D, Timmis J, Mottram JC, Croft SL, Kaye PM. Tissue and host species-specific transcriptional changes in models of experimental visceral leishmaniasis. Wellcome Open Res 2019; 3:135. [PMID: 30542664 PMCID: PMC6248268 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14867.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Human visceral leishmaniasis, caused by infection with Leishmania donovani or L. infantum, is a potentially fatal disease affecting 50,000-90,000 people yearly in 75 disease endemic countries, with more than 20,000 deaths reported. Experimental models of infection play a major role in understanding parasite biology, host-pathogen interaction, disease pathogenesis, and parasite transmission. In addition, they have an essential role in the identification and pre-clinical evaluation of new drugs and vaccines. However, our understanding of these models remains fragmentary. Although the immune response to Leishmania donovani infection in mice has been extensively characterized, transcriptomic analysis capturing the tissue-specific evolution of disease has yet to be reported. Methods: We provide an analysis of the transcriptome of spleen, liver and peripheral blood of BALB/c mice infected with L. donovani. Where possible, we compare our data in murine experimental visceral leishmaniasis with transcriptomic data in the public domain obtained from the study of L. donovani-infected hamsters and patients with human visceral leishmaniasis. Digitised whole slide images showing the histopathology in spleen and liver are made available via a dedicated website, www.leishpathnet.org. Results: Our analysis confirms marked tissue-specific alterations in the transcriptome of infected mice over time and identifies previously unrecognized parallels and differences between murine, hamster and human responses to infection. We show commonality of interferon-regulated genes whilst confirming a greater activation of type 2 immune pathways in infected hamsters compared to mice. Cytokine genes and genes encoding immune checkpoints were markedly tissue specific and dynamic in their expression, and pathways focused on non-immune cells reflected tissue specific immunopathology. Our data also addresses the value of measuring peripheral blood transcriptomics as a potential window into underlying systemic disease. Conclusions: Our transcriptomic data, coupled with histopathologic analysis of the tissue response, provide an additional resource to underpin future mechanistic studies and to guide clinical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen Ashwin
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Karin Seifert
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Sarah Forrester
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Najmeeyah Brown
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Sandy MacDonald
- Bioscience Technology Facility, Deptartment of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Sally James
- Bioscience Technology Facility, Deptartment of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Dimitris Lagos
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jon Timmis
- Dept of Electronic Engineering, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Simon L. Croft
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Paul M. Kaye
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
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Abstract
Induction of gene expression is a valuable approach for functional studies since it allows for the assessment of phenotypes without the need for clonal selection. Inducible expression can find a wide range of applications, from the study of essential genes to the characterization of overexpression of genes of interest. Here, we describe a detailed protocol for the use of the DiCre-based inducible gene expression system in Leishmania parasites. This is a tightly regulated induction system that allows for time- and dose-controlled expression of gene products, as rapidly as within 12 h.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeziel D Damasceno
- The Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
| | - Luiz R O Tosi
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Renato E R S Santos
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Department of Biology, York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK
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Ronet C, Passelli K, Charmoy M, Scarpellino L, Myburgh E, Hauyon La Torre Y, Turco S, Mottram JC, Fasel N, Luther SA, Beverley SM, Launois P, Tacchini-Cottier F. TLR2 Signaling in Skin Nonhematopoietic Cells Induces Early Neutrophil Recruitment in Response to Leishmania major Infection. J Invest Dermatol 2018; 139:1318-1328. [PMID: 30594488 DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2018.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2018] [Revised: 11/14/2018] [Accepted: 12/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Neutrophils are rapidly recruited to the mammalian skin in response to infection with the cutaneous Leishmania pathogen. The parasites use neutrophils to establish the disease; however, the signals driving early neutrophil recruitment are poorly known. Here, we identified the functional importance of TLR2 signaling in this process. Using bone marrow chimeras and immunohistology, we identified the TLR2-expressing cells involved in this early neutrophil recruitment to be of nonhematopoietic origin. Keratinocytes are damaged and briefly in contact with the parasites during infection. We show that TLR2 triggering by Leishmania major is required for their secretion of neutrophil-attracting chemokines. Furthermore, TLR2 triggering by L. major phosphoglycans is critical for neutrophil recruitment to negatively affect disease development, as shown by better control of lesion size and parasite load in Tlr2-/- compared with wild-type infected mice. Conversely, restoring early neutrophil presence in Tlr2-/- mice through injection of wild-type neutrophils or CXCL1 at the onset of infection resulted in delayed disease resolution comparable to that observed in wild-type mice. Taken together, our data show a crucial role for TLR2-expressing nonhematopoietic skin cells in the recruitment of the first wave of neutrophils after L. major infection, a process that delays disease control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Ronet
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland; World Health Organization Immunology Research and Training Center, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Katiuska Passelli
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland; World Health Organization Immunology Research and Training Center, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Mélanie Charmoy
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland; World Health Organization Immunology Research and Training Center, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Leo Scarpellino
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Elmarie Myburgh
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK
| | - Yazmin Hauyon La Torre
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland; World Health Organization Immunology Research and Training Center, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Salvatore Turco
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK
| | - Nicolas Fasel
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Sanjiv A Luther
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Stephen M Beverley
- Molecular Microbiology Department, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Pascal Launois
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland; World Health Organization Immunology Research and Training Center, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| | - Fabienne Tacchini-Cottier
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland; World Health Organization Immunology Research and Training Center, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland.
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Ashwin H, Seifert K, Forrester S, Brown N, MacDonald S, James S, Lagos D, Timmis J, Mottram JC, Croft SL, Kaye PM. Tissue and host species-specific transcriptional changes in models of experimental visceral leishmaniasis. Wellcome Open Res 2018; 3:135. [PMID: 30542664 PMCID: PMC6248268 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14867.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Human visceral leishmaniasis, caused by infection with Leishmania donovani or L. infantum, is a potentially fatal disease affecting 50,000-90,000 people yearly in 75 disease endemic countries, with more than 20,000 deaths reported. Experimental models of infection play a major role in understanding parasite biology, host-pathogen interaction, disease pathogenesis, and parasite transmission. In addition, they have an essential role in the identification and pre-clinical evaluation of new drugs and vaccines. However, our understanding of these models remains fragmentary. Although the immune response to Leishmania donovani infection in mice has been extensively characterized, transcriptomic analysis capturing the tissue-specific evolution of disease has yet to be reported. Methods: We provide an analysis of the transcriptome of spleen, liver and peripheral blood of BALB/c mice infected with L. donovani. Where possible, we compare our data in murine experimental visceral leishmaniasis with transcriptomic data in the public domain obtained from the study of L. donovani-infected hamsters and patients with human visceral leishmaniasis. Digitised whole slide images showing the histopathology in spleen and liver are made available via a dedicated website, www.leishpathnet.org. Results: Our analysis confirms marked tissue-specific alterations in the transcriptome of infected mice over time and identifies previously unrecognized parallels and differences between murine, hamster and human responses to infection. We show commonality of interferon-regulated genes whilst confirming a greater activation of type 2 immune pathways in infected hamsters compared to mice. Cytokine genes and genes encoding immune checkpoints were markedly tissue specific and dynamic in their expression, and pathways focused on non-immune cells reflected tissue specific immunopathology. Our data also addresses the value of measuring peripheral blood transcriptomics as a potential window into underlying systemic disease. Conclusions: Our transcriptomic data, coupled with histopathologic analysis of the tissue response, provide an additional resource to underpin future mechanistic studies and to guide clinical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen Ashwin
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Karin Seifert
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Sarah Forrester
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Najmeeyah Brown
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Sandy MacDonald
- Bioscience Technology Facility, Deptartment of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Sally James
- Bioscience Technology Facility, Deptartment of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Dimitris Lagos
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jon Timmis
- Dept of Electronic Engineering, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Simon L. Croft
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Paul M. Kaye
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
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Carnielli JBT, Crouch K, Forrester S, Silva VC, Carvalho SFG, Damasceno JD, Brown E, Dickens NJ, Costa DL, Costa CHN, Dietze R, Jeffares DC, Mottram JC. A Leishmania infantum genetic marker associated with miltefosine treatment failure for visceral leishmaniasis. EBioMedicine 2018; 36:83-91. [PMID: 30268832 PMCID: PMC6197651 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2018.09.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2018] [Revised: 09/13/2018] [Accepted: 09/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Miltefosine has been used successfully to treat visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in India, but it was unsuccessful for VL in a clinical trial in Brazil. Methods To identify molecular markers that predict VL treatment failure whole genome sequencing of 26 L. infantum isolates, from cured and relapsed patients allowed a GWAS analysis of SNPs, gene and chromosome copy number variations. Findings A strong association was identified (p = 0·0005) between the presence of a genetically stable L. infantumMiltefosine Sensitivity Locus (MSL), and a positive response to miltefosine treatment. The risk of treatment failure increased 9·4-fold (95% CI 2·11–53·54) when an isolate did not have the MSL. The complete absence of the MSL predicted miltefosine failure with 0·92 (95% CI 0·65–0·996) sensitivity and 0·78 (95% CI 0·52–0·92) specificity. A genotyping survey of L. infantum (n = 157) showed that the frequency of MSL varies in a cline from 95% in North East Brazil to <5% in the South East. The MSL was found in the genomes of all L. infantum and L. donovani sequenced isolates from the Old World (n = 671), where miltefosine can have a cure rate higher than 93%. Interpretation Knowledge on the presence or absence of the MSL in L. infantum will allow stratification of patients prior to treatment, helping to establish better therapeutic strategies for VL treatment. Fund CNPq, FAPES, GCRF MRC and Wellcome Trust.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana B T Carnielli
- Laboratório de Leishmanioses, Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil.; Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom.; Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom..
| | - Kathryn Crouch
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Forrester
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Vladimir Costa Silva
- Laboratório de Pesquisas em Leishmanioses, Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina, PI, Brazil
| | - Sílvio F G Carvalho
- Hospital Universitário Clemente de Faria, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, MG, Brazil
| | - Jeziel D Damasceno
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Leishmania, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Elaine Brown
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas J Dickens
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Dorcas L Costa
- Laboratório de Pesquisas em Leishmanioses, Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina, PI, Brazil
| | - Carlos H N Costa
- Laboratório de Pesquisas em Leishmanioses, Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina, PI, Brazil
| | - Reynaldo Dietze
- Laboratório de Leishmanioses, Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil.; Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Daniel C Jeffares
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom.; Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom..
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Fey P, Chartomatsidou R, Kiefer W, Mottram JC, Kersten C, Schirmeister T. New aziridine-based inhibitors of cathepsin L-like cysteine proteases with selectivity for the Leishmania cysteine protease LmCPB2.8. Eur J Med Chem 2018; 156:587-597. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.07.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2018] [Revised: 07/03/2018] [Accepted: 07/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Abstract
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There has been a very limited number
of high-throughput screening campaigns carried out with Leishmania drug targets. In part, this is due to the small number of suitable
target genes that have been shown by genetic or chemical methods to
be essential for the parasite. In this perspective, we discuss the
state of genetic target validation in the field of Leishmania research and review the 200 Leishmania genes and
36 Trypanosoma cruzi genes for which gene deletion
attempts have been made since the first published case in 1990. We
define a quality score for the different genetic deletion techniques
that can be used to identify potential drug targets. We also discuss
how the advances in genome-scale gene disruption techniques have been
used to assist target-based and phenotypic-based drug development
in other parasitic protozoa and why Leishmania has
lacked a similar approach so far. The prospects for this scale of
work are considered in the context of the application of CRISPR/Cas9
gene editing as a useful tool in Leishmania.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathaniel G. Jones
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, U.K
| | - Carolina M. C. Catta-Preta
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, U.K
| | - Ana Paula C. A. Lima
- Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-902, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, U.K
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Goundry A, Romano A, Lima APCA, Mottram JC, Myburgh E. Inhibitor of serine peptidase 2 enhances Leishmania major survival in the skin through control of monocytes and monocyte-derived cells. FASEB J 2018; 32:1315-1327. [PMID: 29097502 PMCID: PMC5892728 DOI: 10.1096/fj.201700797r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Leishmania major is the causative agent of the neglected tropical disease, cutaneous leishmaniasis. In the mouse, protective immunity to Leishmania is associated with inflammatory responses. Here, we assess the dynamics of the inflammatory responses at the lesion site during experimental long-term, low-dose intradermal infection of the ear, employing noninvasive imaging and genetically modified L. major. Significant infiltrates of neutrophils and monocytes occurred at 1-4 d and 2-4 wk, whereas dermal macrophage and dendritic cell (DC) numbers were only slightly elevated in the first days. Quantitative whole-body bioluminescence imaging of myeloperoxidase activity and the quantification of parasite loads indicated that the Leishmania virulence factor, inhibitor of serine peptidase 2 (ISP2), is required to modulate phagocyte activation and is important for parasite survival at the infection site. ISP2 played a role in the control of monocyte, monocyte-derived macrophage, and monocyte-derived DC (moDC) influx, and was required to reduce iNOS expression in monocytes, monocyte-derived cells, and dermal DCs; the expression of CD80 in moDCs; and levels of IFN-γ in situ. Our findings indicate that the increased survival of L. major in the dermis during acute infection is associated with the down-regulation of inflammatory monocytes and monocyte-derived cells via ISP2.-Goundry, A., Romano, A., Lima, A. P. C. A., Mottram, J. C., Myburgh, E. Inhibitor of serine peptidase 2 enhances Leishmania major survival in the skin through control of monocytes and monocyte-derived cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Goundry
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary, and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.,Department of Biology, Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, United Kingdom.,Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Audrey Romano
- Department of Biology, Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Ana Paula C A Lima
- Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary, and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.,Department of Biology, Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Elmarie Myburgh
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary, and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.,Department of Biology, Centre for Immunology and Infection, University of York, York, United Kingdom
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Santos RERS, Silva GLA, Santos EV, Duncan SM, Mottram JC, Damasceno JD, Tosi LRO. A DiCre recombinase-based system for inducible expression in Leishmania major. Mol Biochem Parasitol 2017. [PMID: 28629935 DOI: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2017.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Here we present the establishment of an inducible system based on the dimerizable Cre recombinase (DiCre) for controlled gene expression in the protozoan parasite Leishmania. Rapamycin-induced DiCre activation promoted efficient flipping and expression of gene products in a time and dose-dependent manner. The DiCre flipping activity induced the expression of target genes from both integrated and episomal contexts broadening the applicability of the system. We validated the system by inducing the expression of both full length and truncated forms of the checkpoint protein Rad9, which revealed that the highly divergent C-terminal domain of Rad9 is necessary for proper subcellular localization. Thus, by establishing the DiCre-based inducible system we have created and validated a robust new tool for assessing gene function in Leishmania.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renato E R S Santos
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo; Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Gabriel L A Silva
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo; Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Elaine V Santos
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo; Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Samuel M Duncan
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Jeremy C Mottram
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom; Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Jeziel D Damasceno
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo; Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
| | - Luiz R O Tosi
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo; Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
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Rojas F, Koszela J, Búa J, Llorente B, Burchmore R, Auer M, Mottram JC, Téllez-Iñón MT. The ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme CDC34 is essential for cytokinesis in contrast to putative subunits of a SCF complex in Trypanosoma brucei. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2017; 11:e0005626. [PMID: 28609481 PMCID: PMC5507466 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2016] [Revised: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 05/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The ubiquitin-proteasome system is a post-translational regulatory pathway for controlling protein stability and activity that underlies many fundamental cellular processes, including cell cycle progression. Target proteins are tagged with ubiquitin molecules through the action of an enzymatic cascade composed of E1 ubiquitin activating enzymes, E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzymes, and E3 ubiquitin ligases. One of the E3 ligases known to be responsible for the ubiquitination of cell cycle regulators in eukaryotes is the SKP1-CUL1-F-box complex (SCFC). In this work, we identified and studied the function of homologue proteins of the SCFC in the life cycle of Trypanosoma brucei, the causal agent of the African sleeping sickness. Depletion of trypanosomal SCFC components TbRBX1, TbSKP1, and TbCDC34 by RNAi resulted in decreased growth rate and contrasting cell cycle abnormalities for both procyclic (PCF) and bloodstream (BSF) forms. Depletion of TbRBX1 in PCF cells interfered with kinetoplast replication, whilst depletion of TbSKP1 arrested PCF and BSF cells in the G1/S transition. Silencing of TbCDC34 in BSF cells resulted in a block in cytokinesis and caused rapid clearance of parasites from infected mice. We also show that TbCDC34 is able to conjugate ubiquitin in vitro and in vivo, and that its activity is necessary for T. brucei infection progression in mice. This study reveals that different components of a putative SCFC have contrasting phenotypes once depleted from the cells, and that TbCDC34 is essential for trypanosome replication, making it a potential target for therapeutic intervention. African sleeping sickness is a neglected tropical disease caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei, which is transmitted to humans by tsetse flies (Glossina genus). Treatment of the disease is complex and relies on limited pharmaceutical options. Understanding how T. brucei regulates cell cycle progression at a molecular level when alternating between the mammalian host and the insect vector could lead to better therapies. In this study, we examined different T. brucei proteins with homology to components of the SKP1-CUL1-F-box ubiquitin ligase complex (SCFC), previously characterized in other eukaryotes as a regulator of cell cycle progression. We found that depletion of the homologues of a putative SCFC cause T. brucei to develop abnormally, generating different phenotypes of the mammalian and insect stages. Interestingly, depletion of the ubiquitin conjugating enzyme TbCDC34 arrest cells in a pre-cytokinesis stage, indicating that this protein is essential for cytokinesis. In addition to improving our fundamental understanding of the molecular regulation underlying the sophisticated life cycle of T. brucei, this work pinpoints a potential target for drug development against trypanosomiasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Rojas
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- * E-mail:
| | - Joanna Koszela
- Institute of Quantitative Biology Biochemistry and Biotechnology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Jacqueline Búa
- Instituto Nacional de Parasitología ‘Dr. M. Fatala Chabén’, A.N.L.I.S., ‘Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán’, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Briardo Llorente
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Richard Burchmore
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Manfred Auer
- Institute of Quantitative Biology Biochemistry and Biotechnology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Jeremy C. Mottram
- Centre for Immunology and Infection, Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - María Teresa Téllez-Iñón
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
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