Proline metabolism in Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes

Autophagy Is Involved in Nutritional Stress Response and Differentiation in Trypanosoma cruzi

“…Epimastigotes were routinely grown in brain-heart-tryptose (BHT) medium with 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum. For starvation induction, mid-log parasites (50 ϫ 10 6 /ml) were washed twice with PBS (10 mM Na 2 HPO 4 , 150 mM NaCl, pH 7.2), resuspended in the same buffer at equal cell concentration, and incubated for 16 h at 28°C as previously described (20).…”

Role of Δ1-Pyrroline-5-Carboxylate Dehydrogenase Supports Mitochondrial Metabolism and Host-Cell Invasion of Trypanosoma cruzi

“…Previous biochemical data suggested that glutamate is biosynthesized via a proline oxidation pathway (9). The first enzymatic step of this pathway consists of the conversion of proline into P5C, as has been recently elucidated (10).…”

Biochemical Characterization of Proline Racemases from the Human Protozoan Parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and Definition of Putative Protein Signatures

“…Furthermore, a proline oxidase system was suggested in trypanosomes (25), and the studies reporting the abundance of proline in triatominae guts (26) have implicated proline in metabolic pathways of T. cruzi parasites, as well as in its differentiation in the digestive tract of the insect vector (27). Thus, it is well accepted that T. cruzi can use L-proline as a principal source of carbon (25). Moreover, our preliminary results using parasites cultured in defined media indicate that both epimastigotes, found in the vector, and infective metacyclic trypomastigote forms can efficiently metabolize L-or D-proline as the sole source of carbon (not shown).…”