Fatty acid synthesis by elongases in trypanosomes

Article Abstract:

A study research finding suggest that Trypanosoma brucei, a eukaryotic human parasite causing sleeping sickness, uses three elongases instead of type I or type II synthases for the synthesis of nearly all its fatty acids. T. brucei and its trypanosomatid are unique among eukaryotes in that they synthesize fatty acids with a microsomal elongase pathway that is distinct from conventional type I and II synthases.

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Avant garde fatty acid synthesis by trypanosomes

Article Abstract:

A report on the synthesis of fatty acids in an unconventional way by the parasite Tryanosoma brucei that is transmitted by the tsetse fly causing sleeping sickness in humans is presented. T. brucei in addition to the usual requirement of fatty acids for making cellular membranes needs large amounts of myristate, a fourteen carbon (C14) fatty acid, which is synthesized by using enzymes called elongases.

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Membrane hemifusion: Crossing a chasm in two leaps

Article Abstract:

The fusion reactions mediated by viral and intracellular protein machineries as well as the fusion of protein-free bilayers depend on membrane lipid composition and involve similar hemifusion intermediates. These findings demonstrate that the biological fusion pathway is based on shared properties of membrane lipids rather than on specific features of the proteins involved.

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