Abstract
In the present work, we investigated molecular mechanisms governing thermal resistance of a monoxenous trypanosomatid Crithidia luciliae thermophila, which we reclassified as a separate species C. thermophila. We analyzed morphology, growth kinetics, and transcriptomic profiles of flagellates cultivated at low (23°C) and elevated (34°C) temperature. When maintained at high temperature, they grew significantly faster, became shorter, with genes involved in sugar metabolism and mitochondrial stress protection significantly upregulated. Comparison with another thermoresistant monoxenous trypanosomatid, Leptomonas seymouri, revealed dramatic differences in transcription profiles of the two species with only few genes showing the same expression pattern. This disparity illustrates differences in the biology of these two parasites and distinct mechanisms of their thermotolerance, a prerequisite for living in warm-blooded vertebrates.
Highlights
The order Trypanosomatida unites obligatory parasites with a single flagellum and a single kinetoplast, a structure containing mitochondrial DNA in the form of concatenated minicircles and maxicircles [1,2,3]
When we started to characterize C. luciliae thermophila (COLPROT 054) in molecular terms, we found out that it was indistinguishable from C. hutneri (COLPROT 018) by 18S rRNA and glycosomal glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH) gene sequences
The ability to survive and multiply at elevated temperature is a hallmark of dixenous Leishmania and Trypanosoma
Summary
The order Trypanosomatida unites obligatory parasites with a single flagellum and a single kinetoplast, a structure containing mitochondrial DNA in the form of concatenated minicircles and maxicircles [1,2,3] This order is further sub-divided into two groups: the monoxenous (= one host) parasites of insects and the dixenous (= two hosts) species alternating between an insect vector and a vertebrate or a plant host during their life cycle. While dixenous trypanosomatids were extensively studied, their monoxenous kins remained largely neglected and little was known about their biodiversity, biochemistry, cellular biology, and genetics [4,7,8] They are crucial for tracking the evolution of parasitism [9], have significant impact on their hosts’ "physiological fitness" [10], and may affect insects’ communities in a global way [11,12]. Monoxenous trypanosomatids have been reported as co-infecting agents with Leishmania spp. in immunocompromised and even in immunocompetent patients [13,14,15]
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