Ethel Bayer-Santos, Clemente Aguilar-Bonavides, Silas Pessini Rodrigues, Esteban Maurício Cordero, Alexandre Ferreira Marques, Armando Varela-Ramirez, Hyungwon Choi, Nobuko Yoshida, José Franco da Silveira, Igor C Almeida
Microorganisms use specialized systems to export virulence factors into host cells. Secretion of effector proteins into the extracellular environment has been described in Trypanosoma cruzi; however, a comprehensive proteomic analysis of the secretome and the secretion mechanisms involved remain elusive. Here, we present evidence that T. cruzi releases proteins associated with vesicles that are formed by at least two different mechanisms. Transmission electron microscopy showed larger vesicles budding from the plasma membrane of noninfective epimastigotes and infective metacyclic trypomastigotes, as well as smaller vesicles within the flagellar pocket of both forms...
February 1, 2013: Journal of Proteome Research