Arruda Denise Costa, D'Alexandri Fabio Luiz, Katzin Alejandro M, Uliana Silvia Reni B
Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, CEP 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Exp Parasitol. 2008 Apr;118(4):624-8. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2007.11.009. Epub 2007 Nov 22.
The isoprenoid metabolic pathway in protozoa of the Leishmania genus exhibits distinctive characteristics. These parasites, as well as other members of the Trypanosomatidae family, synthesize ergosterol, instead of cholesterol, as the main membrane sterol lipid. Leishmania has been shown to utilize leucine, instead of acetate as the main precursor for sterol biosynthesis. While mammalian dolichols are molecules containing 15-23 isoprene units, Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes synthesize dolichol of 11 and 12 units. In this paper, we show that the intracellular stages of L. amazonensis, amastigotes, synthesize mainly polyprenols of 9 isoprene units, instead of dolichol.
利什曼原虫属原生动物中的类异戊二烯代谢途径具有独特特征。这些寄生虫以及锥虫科的其他成员合成麦角固醇而非胆固醇作为主要的膜甾醇脂质。利什曼原虫已被证明利用亮氨酸而非乙酸盐作为甾醇生物合成的主要前体。虽然哺乳动物的多萜醇是含有15 - 23个异戊二烯单元的分子，但亚马逊利什曼原虫前鞭毛体合成的是含有11和12个单元的多萜醇。在本文中，我们表明亚马逊利什曼原虫的细胞内阶段，即无鞭毛体，主要合成含有9个异戊二烯单元的聚异戊二烯醇，而非多萜醇。
