Fine Structure of the Cell Surface Coat of Trypanosoma musculi Bloodstream and Metacyclic Forms Using the Thiosemicarbazide-Silver Proteinate Method

1987 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 415
Author(s):  
Michel Roger ◽  
Simon Garzon ◽  
Henri Strykowski ◽  
Pierre Viens
1975 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-644
Author(s):  
D.M. Dwyer

Trypanosoma lewisi bloodstream and culture forms were agglutinated differentially with low concentrations of the cationic compounds: ruthenium red, ruthenium violet, Alcian blue chloride, 1-hexadecylpyridinium chloride, lanthanum chloride, and cationized ferritin. The bloodstream form trypanosomes gave the highest agglutination levels with each of the compounds tested. Ruthenium red was the most effective inducer of cell agglutination among the several cations used. Trypsin-treated bloodstream forms were agglutinated less in the presence of ruthenium red than untreated controls. Ruthenium red-induced cell agglutination also was lowered with chondroitin sulphate and dextran sulphate, but not with alpha-D-glucose, alpha-D-mannose or with several methyl glycosides. Treatment of the bloodstream trypanosomes with alpha-amylase, dextranase, or neuraminidase had little effect on agglutination levels obtained with ruthenium red. Fine-structure cytochemical staining with ruthenium red, ruthenium violet, and Alcian blue-lanthanum nitrate was used to ascertain the presence and distribution of presumptive carbohydrates in the trypanosome cell surface. The extracellular surface coat of the bloodstream forms stained densely with each of the polycationic dyes. Trypsin treatment removed the surface coat from bloodstream trypanosomes; however, the surface membranes of the organisms were stained densely with the several dyes. Similar surface-membrane staining was obtained with the cationic compounds and the culture forms, which lack a cell surface coat. Cationized ferrin was used at the fine-structure level to visualize the negative surface charge present in the cell surface coat and external membrane of the several trypanosome stages. Results obrained from the agglutination and cytochemistry experiments indicate that complex polysaccharides are present in the surface membranes and cell surface coat of T. lewisi bloodstream forms. Similar conclusions also pertain to the surface membranes of the T. lewisi culture from trypanosomes. The carbohydrates probably represent glycopeptide and glycoprotein structural components of the surface membrane of this organism.


1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
D.M. Dwyer

Bloodstream (BSF) and culture forms (CF) of Trypanosoma lewisi were specifically agglutinated with the plant lectins concanavalin A (Con A), soybean agglutinin (SBA), wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), and fucose-binding protein (FBP). Lectin-mediated cell agglutination was inhibited, and reversed in the presence of specific lectin-binding saccharides. Cells were agglutinated randomly with all lectins suggesting a uniform distribution in the trypanosome cell surface of the lectin-binding saccharide ligands. The BSF and CF were not agglutinated with phytohaemagglutinin-M, phytohaemagglutinin-P, or influenza virions. Living trypsinized BSF, which lacked a surface coat, gave agglutination results with the lectins identical to those obtained with living intact BSF. Glutaraldehyde- or formalin-fixed intact and trypsinized BSF gave results similar to those obtained with living cells and SBA, WGA, and FBP. However, intact, fixed BSF gave much lower agglutination levels with Con A than trypsinized-fixed, living intact, or living trypsinized BSF cells. Intact and trypsinized living and fixed CF gave identical agglutination results with each of the lectins. Living and fixed cells treated extensively with the glycoside hydrolases alpha-amylase, dextranase, and neuraminidase gave results with the lectins identical to those obtained with untreated cells. Con A bound at the cell surface was visualized with an iron-dextran (Fe-Dex) conjugate. Dense iron marker particles were distributed randomly in the intact BSF surface coat. The Con A-bound Fe-Dex marker was present on the pellicular and flagellar membrane outer lamina of trypsinized BSF and intact CF cells. Horseradish peroxidase (HRPO)-diaminobenzidine (DAB) coupled reactions also were used to visualize surface-bound Con A. Dense Con A-HRPO-DAB deposits were present uniformly in the BSF surface coat, and on the membranes of trypsinized BSF and intact CF trypanosomes. SBA and WGA were conjugated to HRPO and these used in DAB-coupled reactions at the ultrastructure level. Results obtained with the HRPO-conjugated lectins were similar in surface localization and distribution to those obtained with the Con A-HRPO-DAB preparations. Treatment of BSF and CF with the several glycoside hydrolases produced no apparent enhanced or reduced reactivity for the lectins in any of the fine-structure cytochemistry experiments. The cumulative results indicate that ligands similar or identical to alpha-D-mannose, N-acetylgalactosamine, and N-acetylglucosamine, and alpha-L-fucose are constituents in the extracellular surface coat matrix of T. lewisi BSF. Similar conclusions also pertain to the pellicular and flagellar membrane ligands of the BSF and CF cells. Moreover, results obtained with the glycoside hydrolases and influenza virions suggest that the T. lewisi cell surface ligands are not associated directly with repetitively bonded alpha-I,4- and alpha-I,6-D-glucans or sialic acid moieties.


1999 ◽  
Vol 112 (17) ◽  
pp. 2799-2809 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Ferguson

The discovery of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) membrane anchors has had a significant impact on several areas of eukaryote cell biology. Studies of the African trypanosome, which expresses a dense surface coat of GPI-anchored variant surface glycoprotein, have played important roles in establishing the general structure of GPI membrane anchors and in delineating the pathway of GPI biosynthesis. The major cell-surface molecules of related parasites are also rich in GPI-anchored glycoproteins and/or GPI-related glycophospholipids, and differences in substrate specificity between enzymes of trypanosomal and mammalian GPI biosynthesis may have potential for the development of anti-parasite therapies. Apart from providing stable membrane anchorage, GPI anchors have been implicated in the sequestration of GPI-anchored proteins into specialised membrane microdomains, known as lipid rafts, and in signal transduction events.


1967 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Mukherjee ◽  
A. Wynn Williams

A comparative analysis of the fine structure of the microvilli on jejunal and colonic epithelial cells of the mouse intestine has been made. The microvilli in these two locations demonstrate a remarkably similar fine structure with respect to the thickness of the plasma membrane, the extent of the filament-free zone, and the characteristics of the microfilaments situated within the microvillous core. Some of the core microfilaments appear to continue across the plasma membrane limiting the tip of the microvillus. The main difference between the microvilli of small intestine and colon is in the extent and organization of the surface coat. In the small intestine, in addition to the commonly observed thin surface "fuzz," occasional areas of the jejunal villus show a more conspicuous surface coat covering the tips of the microvilli. Evidence has been put forward which indicates that the surface coat is an integral part of the epithelial cells. In contrast to the jejunal epithelium, the colonic epithelium is endowed with a thicker surface coat. Variations in the organization of the surface coat at different levels of the colonic crypts have also been noted. The functional significance of these variations in the surface coat is discussed.


2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1407-1417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Lucia Sampaio Güther ◽  
Kenneth Beattie ◽  
Douglas J. Lamont ◽  
John James ◽  
Alan R. Prescott ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT A Trypanosoma brucei TbGPI12 null mutant that is unable to express cell surface procyclins and free glycosylphosphatidylinositols (GPI) revealed that these are not the only surface coat molecules of the procyclic life cycle stage. Here, we show that non-GPI-anchored procyclins are N-glycosylated, accumulate in the lysosome, and appear as proteolytic fragments in the medium. We also show, using lectin agglutination and galactose oxidase-NaB3H4 labeling, that the cell surface of the TbGPI12 null parasites contains glycoconjugates that terminate in sialic acid linked to galactose. Following desialylation, a high-apparent-molecular-weight glycoconjugate fraction was purified by ricin affinity chromatography and gel filtration and shown to contain mannose, galactose, N-acetylglucosamine, and fucose. The latter has not been previously reported in T. brucei glycoproteins. A proteomic analysis of this fraction revealed a mixture of polytopic transmembrane proteins, including P-type ATPase and vacuolar proton-translocating pyrophosphatase. Immunolocalization studies showed that both could be labeled on the surfaces of wild-type and TbGPI12 null cells. Neither galactose oxidase-NaB3H4 labeling of the non-GPI-anchored surface glycoconjugates nor immunogold labeling of the P-type ATPase was affected by the presence of procyclins in the wild-type cells, suggesting that the procyclins do not, by themselves, form a macromolecular barrier.


Author(s):  
I. Manton ◽  
G. F. Leedale

C. ericina Parke & Manton has been re-investigated to add salient features of micro-anatomy from the electron microscopy of thin sections and also to add photographs of living cells taken with anoptral contrast light microscopy.The most important new observations concern the scales which are shown to be essentially two-layered plates in which the layers in the very large spined scales have become separated except at their edges, with the outer layer greatly hypertrophied to produce a hollow spine with a flared base closed at the bottom by a flat plate. The patterns of external marking on the two layers are very similar in both plate-scales and spines in this species and the orientation of both with respect to the cell surface has been demonstrated by a section of the scales in situ.


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