Trypanosoma brucei FKBP12 differentially controls motility and cytokinesis in procyclic and bloodstream forms.

Anaïs Brasseur (1, 2) , Brice Rotureau (3) , Marjorie Vermeersch (4) , Thierry Blisnick (3) , Didier Salmon (5) , Philippe Bastin (3) , Etienne Pays (2) , Luc Vanhamme (4) , David Pérez-Morga (4)

1 NUS - National University of Singapore
2 IBMM - Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology
3 Biologie Cellulaire des Trypanosomes
4 IBMM - CMMI - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging
5 UFRJ - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

FKBP12 proteins are able to inhibit TOR kinases or calcineurin phosphatases upon binding of rapamycin or FK506 drugs, respectively. The Trypanosoma brucei FKBP12 homologue (TbFKBP12) was found to be a cytoskeleton-associated protein with specific localization in the flagellar pocket area of the bloodstream form. In the insect procyclic form, RNA interference-mediated knockdown of TbFKBP12 affected motility. In bloodstream cells, depletion of TbFKBP12 affected cytokinesis and cytoskeleton architecture. These last effects were associated with the presence of internal translucent cavities limited by an inside-out configuration of the normal cell surface, with a luminal variant surface glycoprotein coat lined up by microtubules. These cavities, which recreated the streamlined shape of the normal trypanosome cytoskeleton, might represent unsuccessful attempts for cell abscission. We propose that TbFKBP12 differentially affects stage-specific processes through association with the cytoskeleton.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Cellular Biology

Anaïs Brasseur, Brice Rotureau, Marjorie Vermeersch, Thierry Blisnick, Didier Salmon, et al.. Trypanosoma brucei FKBP12 differentially controls motility and cytokinesis in procyclic and bloodstream forms.. Eukaryotic Cell, 2013, 12 (2), pp.168-81. ⟨10.1128/EC.00077-12⟩. ⟨pasteur-01371316⟩