Jessica L Martin, Phillip A Yates, Radika Soysa, Joshua F Alfaro, Feng Yang, Kristin E Burnum-Johnson, Vladislav A Petyuk, Karl K Weitz, David G Camp, Richard D Smith, Phillip A Wilmarth, Larry L David, Gowthaman Ramasamy, Peter J Myler, Nicola S Carter
The ability of Leishmania to survive in their insect or mammalian host is dependent upon an ability to sense and adapt to changes in the microenvironment. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the parasite response to environmental changes, such as nutrient availability. To elucidate nutrient stress response pathways in Leishmania donovani, we have used purine starvation as the paradigm. The salvage of purines from the host milieu is obligatory for parasite replication; nevertheless, purine-starved parasites can persist in culture without supplementary purine for over three months, indicating that the response to purine starvation is robust and engenders parasite survival under conditions of extreme scarcity...
February 2014: PLoS Pathogens