The detection of a spectrin-like protein in Trypanosoma cruzi with a polyclonal antibody.

A rabbit serum raised against sheep erythrocyte spectrin stained mainly the flagella of epimastigote forms of the parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. In Western blots of T. cruzi proteins solubilized with Nonidet P-40 it recognized mainly a polypeptide doublet with an apparent molecular weight of about 240 kDa, while a pre-immune rabbit serum and a tubulin monoclonal antibody did not. The results are consistent with the idea that a spectrin-like protein may be involved in cytoskeleton-membrane interactions in flagella of T. cruzi.