The metabolism of carbohydrate by pleomorphic African trypanosomes

Abstract

1.1. Monomorphic Trypanosoma brucei and T. rhodesiense metabolize glucose via the glycolytic pathway, producing pyruvate as the major metabolic end-product with a small amount of glycerol and no carbon dioxide, acetate or succinate.2.2. Under in vitro conditions, pleomorphic strains of T. rhodesiense produce significant quantities of succinate, acetate and carbon dioxide.3.3. The time course of metabolite production has been used to evaluate the significance of acetate, succinate and carbon dioxide formation in vivo and indicates that succinate production is induced by in vitro incubation.4.4. Oxidative decarboxylases for pyruvate and α-oxoglutarate are confined to the short stumpy forms of pleomorphic infections. However, the tricarboxylic acid cycle has minimal activity in these organisms due to limiting levels of citrate synthase (E.C. 4.1.3.7) and succinate dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.3.99.1).5.5. l-Glycerol-3-phosphate oxidase is the principal terminal oxidase of both long slender and short stumpy forms of T. rhodesiense.