Comparative Two-Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis of Trypanosoma cruzi Mammalian-Stage Forms in an Alkaline pH Range

Protein Pept Lett. 2015;22(12):1066-75. doi: 10.2174/0929866522666150915122120.

Abstract

It is estimated that several million people are currently infected worldwide by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas disease. After mammalian host infection, a fundamental event is the differentiation from infective trypomastigotes into replicative amastigotes (amastigogenesis) inside host-cells. To unravel the particularities of both forms, it is essential to identify molecules presented in each form. Since T. cruzi gene expression regulation occurs mainly at posttranscriptional level, a proteomic approach is appropriate. Due to intrinsic difficulties with performing 2-DE in the alkaline pH range, there are no reports on 2-DE-based comparative proteome analysis of T. cruzi mammalianstage forms that focus on alkaline polypeptides. Here, we performed a comparative proteome analysis between tissue culture- derived trypomastigotes and extracellular amastigote-like cells using conditions optimized for the 6-11 pH range followed by identification by MALDI-TOF/TOF technology. The alkaline 2-DE maps from both forms show that proteins with a pI above 7.0 were not underrepresented (= 65% of proteins detected). Moreover the differences in protein expression between the Human-hosted T. cruzi forms corroborated previous proteomic studies and corresponded to their biological traits.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chagas Disease / parasitology
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / physiology
  • Host-Parasite Interactions
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Proteome / analysis*
  • Proteome / chemistry
  • Proteome / metabolism
  • Proteome / physiology*
  • Protozoan Proteins / analysis*
  • Protozoan Proteins / chemistry
  • Protozoan Proteins / metabolism
  • Protozoan Proteins / physiology*
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / chemistry*
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / growth & development*
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / metabolism

Substances

  • Proteome
  • Protozoan Proteins