Resolving Trypanosoma brucei Flagellar Structure by Cryo-Electron Tomography

Abstract

Trypanosoma brucei is a unicellular eukaryote that can cause human African trypanosomiasis, which has continued to evolve and spread. The key feature of these parasites is that they have a flagellum consists of a typical 9 + 2 axoneme and a lattice-like paraflagellar rod (PFR). It attached to the cell body and is responsible for cell motility, cytokinesis, and morphogenesis. The present study demonstrates the detailed structure and defines the length of the axoneme and three domains of the paraflagellar rod (PFR) using cryo-electron tomography of Trypanosoma brucei flagella. The performed analysis revealed the double-headed structure of the outer-arm dynein, the internal structure of PFR and identified repeating structure in the flagella. Since these structures are critical to the pathogenicity of Trypanosoma brucei, and understanding their organization would help in finding treatments against African trypanosomiasis.