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New Approaches to the Microscopic Imaging of Trypanosoma brucei

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2004

Mark C. Field ,
Clare L. Allen ,
Vivek Dhir ,
David Goulding ,
Belinda S. Hall ,
Gareth W. Morgan ,
Paul Veazey  and
Markus Engstler
Mark C. Field
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Laboratories for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AY, UK
Clare L. Allen
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Laboratories for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AY, UK
Vivek Dhir
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Laboratories for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AY, UK
David Goulding
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Laboratories for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AY, UK
Belinda S. Hall
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Laboratories for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AY, UK
Gareth W. Morgan
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Laboratories for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AY, UK
Paul Veazey
Affiliation:
Wellcome Trust Laboratories for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AY, UK
Markus Engstler
Affiliation:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Department Biologie I, Genetik, Maria-Ward-Str. 1a, 80638 Muenchen, Germany
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Abstract

Protozoan parasites are fearsome pathogens responsible for a substantial proportion of human mortality, morbidity, and economic hardship. The principal disease agents are members of the orders Apicomplexa (Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Eimeria) and Kinetoplastida (Trypanosomes, Leishmania). The majority of humans are at risk from infection from one or more of these organisms, with profound effects on the economy, social structure and quality of life in endemic areas; Plasmodium itself accounts for over one million deaths per annum, and an estimated 4 × 107 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), whereas the Kinetoplastida are responsible for over 100,000 deaths per annum and 4 × 106 DALYs. Current control strategies are failing due to drug resistance and inadequate implementation of existing public health strategies. Trypanosoma brucei, the African Trypanosome, has emerged as a favored model system for the study of basic cell biology in Kinetoplastida, because of several recent technical advances (transfection, inducible expression systems, and RNA interference), and these advantages, together with genome sequencing efforts are widely anticipated to provide new strategies of therapeutic intervention. Here we describe a suite of methods that have been developed for the microscopic analysis of T. brucei at the light and ultrastructural levels, an essential component of analysis of gene function and hence identification of therapeutic targets.

Keywords

Trypanosomaprotein transportvesicle traffickingendocytosisfluorescence microscopyultrastructure
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 10 , Issue 5 , October 2004 , pp. 621 - 636
Copyright
© 2004 Microscopy Society of America

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References

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