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Eukaryotic Cell, September 2009, p. 1313, Vol. 8, No. 9
1535-9778/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00211-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

SPOTLIGHT

Article of Significant Interest Selected from This Issue by the Editors

A New Look at the Surface of the Procyclic Form of Trypanosoma brucei

The current and popular view of the surface of the insect-dwelling procyclic form of the African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei is of a surface coat of procyclin, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored polyanionic rod-like glycoprotein present at about 3 million copies per cell, together with a smaller number of free GPI molecules. However, the analysis by Güther and colleagues on page 1407 of mutant procyclic cells that were unable to assemble GPI molecules shows that the procyclins and free GPIs coexist with a myriad of other molecules. These molecules, which appear as a high-molecular-weight smear on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, were isolated by lectin affinity chromatography and analyzed by proteomics and for carbohydrate content. The results showed that this material included several transmembrane transporters as well as mannose, galactose, fucose, and sialic acid. Significantly, cell surface labeling of both of the sugar components of these molecules, using galactose oxidase and sodium borotritiide, and some of the protein components, using antibodies, was not impeded by the presence of the procyclins and free GPIs in wild-type cells. These results alter our view of the surface of the procyclic form of T. brucei and suggest that the procyclin and free GPI "coat" is, in fact, rather penetrable by macromolecules.

Eukaryotic Cell, September 2009, p. 1313, Vol. 8, No. 9
1535-9778/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00211-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.




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