Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Sep 2012)

Trypanosoma rangeli protein tyrosine phosphatase is associated with the parasite's flagellum

  • Elisa Beatriz Prestes,
  • Ethel Bayer-Santos,
  • Patrícia Hermes Stoco,
  • Thaís Cristine Marques Sincero,
  • Glauber Wagner,
  • Adriana Umaki,
  • Stenio Perdigão Fragoso,
  • Juliano Bordignon,
  • Mário Steindel,
  • Edmundo Carlos Grisard

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0074-02762012000600002
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 107, no. 6
pp. 713 – 719

Abstract

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Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) play an essential role in the regulation of cell differentiation in pathogenic trypanosomatids. In this study, we describe a PTP expressed by the non-pathogenic protozoan Trypanosoma rangeli (TrPTP2). The gene for this PTP is orthologous to the T. brucei TbPTP1 and Trypanosoma cruzi (TcPTP2) genes. Cloning and expression of the TrPTP2 and TcPTP2 proteins allowed anti-PTP2 monoclonal antibodies to be generated in BALB/c mice. When expressed by T. rangeli epimastigotes and trypomastigotes, native TrPTP2 is detected as a ~65 kDa protein associated with the parasite's flagellum. Given that the flagellum is an important structure for cell differentiation in trypanosomatids, the presence of a protein responsible for tyrosine dephosphorylation in the T. rangeli flagellum could represent an interesting mechanism of regulation in this structure.

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