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. 2021 Sep 20;15(9):e0009504.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009504. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Developmental changes and metabolic reprogramming during establishment of infection and progression of Trypanosoma brucei brucei through its insect host

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Developmental changes and metabolic reprogramming during establishment of infection and progression of Trypanosoma brucei brucei through its insect host

Arunasalam Naguleswaran et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Abstract

Trypanosoma brucei ssp., unicellular parasites causing human and animal trypanosomiasis, are transmitted between mammals by tsetse flies. Periodic changes in variant surface glycoproteins (VSG), which form the parasite coat in the mammal, allow them to evade the host immune response. Different isolates of T. brucei show heterogeneity in their repertoires of VSG genes and have single nucleotide polymorphisms and indels that can impact on genome editing. T. brucei brucei EATRO1125 (AnTaR1 serodeme) is an isolate that is used increasingly often because it is pleomorphic in mammals and fly transmissible, two characteristics that have been lost by the most commonly used laboratory stocks. We present a genome assembly of EATRO1125, including contigs for the intermediate chromosomes and minichromosomes that serve as repositories of VSG genes. In addition, de novo transcriptome assemblies were performed using Illumina sequences from tsetse-derived trypanosomes. Reads of 150 bases enabled closely related members of multigene families to be discriminated. This revealed that the transcriptome of midgut-derived parasites is dynamic, starting with the expression of high affinity hexose transporters and glycolytic enzymes and then switching to proline uptake and catabolism. These changes resemble the transition from early to late procyclic forms in culture. Further metabolic reprogramming, including upregulation of tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes, occurs in the proventriculus. Many transcripts upregulated in the salivary glands encode surface proteins, among them 7 metacyclic VSGs, multiple BARPs and GCS1/HAP2, a marker for gametes. A novel family of transmembrane proteins, containing polythreonine stretches that are predicted to be O-glycosylation sites, was also identified. Finally, RNA-Seq data were used to create an optimised annotation file with 5' and 3' untranslated regions accurately mapped for 9302 genes. We anticipate that this will be of use in identifying transcripts obtained by single cell sequencing technologies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Principal component analysis and heatmap of trypanosome transcriptomes from different tsetse tissues.
A: Each point represents an independent biological sample. Data for cultured slender and stumpy forms [10] and mouse-derived slender and stumpy forms [44] are included for completeness. Slc: culture-derived slender forms; Stc: culture-derived stumpy forms; Slm: mouse-derived slender forms; Stm: mouse-derived stumpy forms; MG: midgut; PV: proventriculus, SG: salivary glands. Midgut samples were collected on D3, D7, D11, D15 and D28 post infection. B: Global gene expression heatmap through the life cycle. Data were z-score normalised. Colour scale: orange, high expression; blue, low expression.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Expression profiles of known stage-specific markers as a function of time and tissue.
Values are the mean of three biological replicates. A) EP and GPEET procyclin; B) BARP gene family; C) Heatmap of proteins associated with differentiation (PADs 1–8). Data for slender and stumpy forms are from [10]. Sl: slender forms; St: stumpy forms; MG: midgut; PV: proventriculus, SG: salivary glands. RPM: reads per million.
Fig 3
Fig 3
Volcano plots comparing the transcriptomes of A) culture-derived stumpy forms [10] and tsetse-derived midgut forms D3 post infection; B) midgut forms D3 versus D15. AK: arginine kinase; HK1: hexokinase 1; ISG: invariant surface glycoprotein; NTR: nitroreductase; PEPCK: phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase; PPDK: pyruvate phosphate dikinase; Tb-44: calflagin 44; THT2: high affinity hexose transporter. Red: Transcripts significantly upregulated on D3; blue: transcripts significantly downregulated on D3; grey: not significant. Red arrows: transcripts upregulated ≥2-fold; blue arrows, transcripts downregulated ≥2-fold.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Expression profiles of TCA cycle enzymes through the life cycle.
ACO, aconitase; IDH, isocitrate dehydrogenase; CS, citrate synthase. All three enzymes show bimodal expression, with highest expression at D7 in the midgut and in the proventriculus. Data for slender and stumpy forms are from [10]. RPM: reads per million.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Expression of metacyclic VSGs in the salivary glands.
Eight transcripts were assembled from the salivary gland transcriptome. mVSG1 and mVSG2 are alternatively processed transcripts encoding the same protein and are therefore grouped together. The same set of mVSGs was found in three biological replicates (R1–3). RPM: reads per million. Sequence information is provided in S4 File.
Fig 6
Fig 6
UMAP coloured by transcript counts for selected genes using GTF files from TriTrypDB (upper panel) and this study (GTF new, lower panel). The scRNA-seq dataset was obtained from Vigneron et al. [41]. The colour scale shows raw transcript counts per cell. The epimastigote cluster is identified by the presence of BARP transcripts. Different BARP isoforms are expressed to different extents. Tb927.9.15620 was not identified with the GTF file from TritrypDB.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Gene expression heatmap of adenylate cyclases, with pseudogenes excluded.
Rows indicate each gene and columns indicate samples. Data were z-score normalised. Colour scale: orange, high expression; blue, low expression.
Fig 8
Fig 8. Gene expression heatmap of amino acid transporters.
Rows indicate each gene and columns indicate samples. Data were z-score normalised. Colour scale: orange, high expression; blue, low expression. Members of the AAT7-B family are marked by asterisks.
Fig 9
Fig 9. Gene expression heatmap of selected metabolic enzymes.
Rows indicate each gene and columns indicate samples. Data were z-score normalised. Colour scale: orange, high expression; blue, low expression. Gene IDs and names are shown. TritrydDB uses the gene name “null” for some genes with putative functions that have not been confirmed experimentally.
Fig 10
Fig 10. Overview of changes in transcripts encoding metabolic enzymes during fly infection.
Gene IDs are provided in Fig 8. Colours reflect the time point or tissue in which expression was maximal. It does not imply that an enzyme is absent in other stages. AAT7-B: amino acid transporters; ACO: aconitase; ALAT: alanine aminotransferase; CS: citrate synthase; ENO: enolase; FBPase: fructose 1,6 biphosphatase; PFK-2/FBPase-2: fructose 2,6 bisphosphatase; cFH: cytosolic fumarate hydratase; mFH: mitochondrial fumarate hydratase GLK: glycerol kinase 1; gG3PDH: glycosomal glycerol-3-phosphase dehydrogenase; mG3PDH: mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphase dehydrogenase; HK: hexokinase 1; IDH: isocitrate dehydrogenase; IPGAM: cofactor independent phosphoglycerate mutase; cMDH: cytosolic malate dehydrogenase; gMDH: glycosomal malate dehydrogenase; mMDH: mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase; mMDH*: mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase; P5CDH: pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase; P5CR: pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase; PEPCK: phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase; PGAM: phosphoglycerate mutase; PGK: phosphoglycerate kinase; PPDK: pyruvate phosphate dikinase; PYDH: pyruvate dehydrogenase; PYK: pyruvate kinase; TIM: triose phosphate isomerase; THT2: high affinity hexose transporters. MG3: midgut day 3; MG7: midgut day 7; MG15: midgut day 15; PV: proventriculus, SG: salivary glands.

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Grants and funding

This research was funded by University of Berne and grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (no. 310030_184669) and HHMI Senior International Scholars Program (no. 55007650) to IR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.