Carrillo Carolina, Canepa Gaspar E, Algranati Israel D, Pereira Claudio A
Fundación Instituto Leloir, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2006 Jun 9;344(3):936-40. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.03.215. Epub 2006 Apr 19.
Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas' disease, is the only eukaryotic cell which lacks the ability to synthesize polyamines de novo. In this work, we describe for the first time the molecular and biochemical properties of a high-affinity spermidine transporter from T. cruzi. The transporter gene TcPAT12 was functionally expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, showing high levels of spermidine uptake. Similar apparent affinity constants for spermidine uptake were obtained when comparing T. cruzi epimastigotes and heterologous expressed TcPAT12 in X. laevis. In addition, TcPAT12 also transports putrescine and the amino acid l-arginine at lower rates than spermidine.
克氏锥虫是恰加斯病的病原体，是唯一一种缺乏从头合成多胺能力的真核细胞。在这项研究中，我们首次描述了来自克氏锥虫的一种高亲和力亚精胺转运蛋白的分子和生化特性。转运蛋白基因TcPAT12在非洲爪蟾卵母细胞中功能性表达，表现出高水平的亚精胺摄取。比较克氏锥虫无鞭毛体和在非洲爪蟾中异源表达的TcPAT12时，亚精胺摄取的表观亲和力常数相似。此外，TcPAT12也能转运腐胺和氨基酸L-精氨酸，但其转运速率低于亚精胺。
