Trypanosoma brucei has three distinct ϳ20S editosomes that catalyze RNA editing by the insertion and deletion of uridylates. Editosomes with the KREN1 or KREN2 RNase III type endonucleases specifically cleave deletion and insertion editing site substrates, respectively. We report here that editosomes with KREPB2, which also has an RNase III motif, specifically cleave cytochrome oxidase II (COII) pre-mRNA insertion editing site substrates in vitro. Conditional repression and mutation studies also show that KREPB2 is an editing endonuclease specifically required for COII mRNA editing in vivo. Furthermore, KREPB2 expression is essential for the growth and survival of bloodstream forms. Thus, editing in T. brucei requires at least three compositionally and functionally distinct ϳ20S editosomes, two of which distinguish between different insertion editing sites. This unexpected finding reveals an additional level of complexity in the RNA editing process and suggests a mechanism for how the selection of sites for editing in vivo is controlled.RNA editing recodes most of the mitochondrial mRNAs in trypanosomatids by the insertion and deletion of uridine nucleotides (U's) using information provided by guide RNAs (gRNAs) (58). RNA editing is developmentally regulated and is required for parasites that cycle between insect vector and mammalian host (54). Proteins that perform catalytic steps of RNA editing have been identified: endonucleases KREN1 or KREN2 cleave at deletion or insertion sites, respectively; terminal uridylyl transferase (TUTase) KRET2 adds U's at insertion sites; U specific exoribonuclease (exoUase) KREX1 removes U's at deletion sites; and ligases KREL1 or KREL2 rejoin mRNA fragments after U addition or removal (5,13,25,30,34,55,61). These catalytic steps are coordinated by the multiprotein editosomes that sediment at ϳ20S on glycerol gradients (9, 43). KREPB2 was identified as an editosome component by mass spectrometry, and found to contain an RNase III motif harboring amino acids that are critical for catalysis, a U1 Zn 2ϩ finger, and double-stranded RNA binding. It has sequence similarity to KREN1 and KREN2, which also contain these three motifs (23,41,64). These data strongly suggest an RNA editing endonuclease role for KREPB2.KREN1 and KREN2 were shown to be RNA editing endonucleases using both RNA interference (RNAi) and conditional knockout cell lines (5, 61). Both KREN1 and KREN2 are essential for the normal growth of PF and BF cells, and repression of their expression by either method led to dramatic growth defects or death, respectively. Such repression of KREN1 eliminated in vitro cleavage by ϳ20S editosomes of a deletion site in a synthetic substrate modeled on ATPase subunit 6 (A6) pre-mRNA but did not alter cleavage of an insertion site in a substrate derived from the same mRNA. These studies and other data have shown that KREN1 is an editing endonuclease with a preference for sites from which U's are deleted (29). Similarly, repression of KREN2 eliminated in vitro cleavage at insertion ed...

Kupffer cells (KCs) represent the major phagocytic population within the liver and provide an intracellular niche for the survival of a number of important human pathogens. Although KCs have been extensively studied in vitro, little is known of their in vivo response to infection and their capacity to directly interact with antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. Here, using a combination of approaches including whole mount and thin section confocal microscopy, adoptive cell transfer and intra-vital 2-photon microscopy, we demonstrate that KCs represent the only detectable population of mononuclear phagocytes within granulomas induced by Leishmania donovani infection that are capable of presenting parasite-derived peptide to effector CD8+ T cells. This restriction of antigen presentation to KCs within the Leishmania granuloma has important implications for the identification of new candidate vaccine antigens and for the design of novel immuno-therapeutic interventions.

Graphical abstractThe Trypanosoma brucei orthologue of Arl2 is essential for viability in bloodstream form parasites. RNA interference causes inhibition of cleavage furrow formation and loss of acetylated α-tubulin.