Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:57:05.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Programmed cell death in Giardia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2012

SUSMITA BAGCHI ,
ABRAHAM E. ONIKU ,
KATE TOPPING ,
ZAHRA N. MAMHOUD  and
TIMOTHY A. PAGET
SUSMITA BAGCHI
Affiliation:
Davis Hall, Lehman College, CUNY, 250, Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY10468, USA
ABRAHAM E. ONIKU
Affiliation:
Medway School of Pharmacy, Central Ave, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
KATE TOPPING
Affiliation:
University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, E. Yorkshire HU6 7RX, UK
ZAHRA N. MAMHOUD
Affiliation:
Davis Hall, Lehman College, CUNY, 250, Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY10468, USA Wolfson Laboratories, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantocks Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
TIMOTHY A. PAGET*
Affiliation:
Davis Hall, Lehman College, CUNY, 250, Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY10468, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Room 301, Davis Hall, Lehman College, CUNY, 250, Bedford Park Blvd, Bronx, NY 10468, USA. Tel.: 001 718 960 8743. Fax: 001 718 960 8750. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Programmed cell death (PCD) has been observed in many unicellular eukaryotes; however, in very few cases have the pathways been described. Recently the early divergent amitochondrial eukaryote Giardia has been included in this group. In this paper we investigate the processes of PCD in Giardia. We performed a bioinformatics survey of Giardia genomes to identify genes associated with PCD alongside traditional methods for studying apoptosis and autophagy. Analysis of Giardia genomes failed to highlight any genes involved in apoptotic-like PCD; however, we were able to induce apoptotic-like morphological changes in response to oxidative stress (H2O2) and drugs (metronidazole). In addition we did not detect caspase activity in induced cells. Interestingly, we did observe changes resembling autophagy when cells were starved (staining with MDC) and genome analysis revealed some key genes associated with autophagy such as TOR, ATG1 and ATG 16. In organisms such as Trichomonas vaginalis, Entamoeba histolytica and Blastocystis similar observations have been made but no genes have been identified. We propose that Giardia possess a pathway of autophagy and a form of apoptosis very different from the classical known mechanism; this may represent an early form of programmed cell death.

Keywords

Giardiacell deathapoptosisautophagyevolution
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 139 , Issue 7 , June 2012 , pp. 894 - 903
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Atkinson, H. J., Babbitt, P. C. and Sajid, M. (2009). The global cysteine peptidase landscape in parasites. Trends in Parasitology 25, 573–581.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruchhaus, I., Roeder, T., Rennenberg, A. and Heussler, V. T. (2007). Protozoan parasites: programmed cell death as a mechanism of parasitism. Trends in Parasitology 23, 376–383.Google Scholar
Chose, O., Sarde, C. O., Gerbod, D., Viscogliosi, E. and Roseto, A. (2003). Programmed cell death in parasitic protozoans that lack mitochondria. Trends in Parasitology 19, 559–564.Google Scholar
Combet, C., Blanchet, C., Geourjon, C. and Deleage, G. (2000). NPS @ Network Protein Sequence Analysis. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 25, 147–150.Google Scholar
Corrêa, G., Vilela, R., Menna-Barreto, R. F., Midlej, V. and Benchimol, M. (2009). Cell death induction in Giardia lamblia: effect of beta-lapachone and starvation. Parasitology International 58, 424–437.Google Scholar
Darzynkiewicz, Z. and Pozarowski, P. (2007). All that glitters is not gold: All that FLICA binds is not caspase. A caution in data interpretation and new opportunities. Cytometry Part A. The Journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology 71, 536–537.Google Scholar
Debrabant, A., Lee, N., Bertholet, S., Duncan, R. and Nakhasi, H. L. (2003). Programmed cell death in trypanosomatids and other unicellular organisms. International Journal for Parasitology 33, 257–267.Google Scholar
Ghosh, E., Ghosh, A., Ghosh, A. N., Nozaki, T. and Ganguly, S. (2009). Oxidative stress induced cell cycle blockage and a protease independent programmed cell death in microaerophillic Giardia lamblia. Drug design, development and therapy 3, 103–110.Google Scholar
Helms, M. J., Ambit, A., Appleton, P., Tetley, L., Coombs, G. H. and Mottram, J. C. (2006). Bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei depend upon multiple metacaspases associated with RAB11-positive endosomes. Journal of Cell Science 119, 1105–1117.Google Scholar
Koonin, E. V. and Aravind, L. (2002). Origin and evolution of eukaryotic apoptosis: the bacterial connection. Review. Cell Death and Differentiation 9, 394–404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Le Chat, L., Sinden, R. E. and Dessens, J. T. (2007). A role of metacaspase 1 in Plasmodium berghei development and apoptosis. Molecular and Cellular Biology 153, 41–47.Google Scholar
Lorenzo, H. K. and Susin, S. A. (2004). Mitochondrial effectors in caspase-independent cell death. FEBS Letters 557, 14–20.Google Scholar
Mazzoni, C. and Falcone, C. (2008). Caspase dependent apoptosis in yeast. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1783, 1320–1327.Google Scholar
Menna-Barreto, R. F., Goncalves, R. L., Costa, E. M., Silva, R. S., Pinto, A. V., Oliveira, M. F. and de Castro, S. L. (2009). The effects on Trypanosoma cruzi of novel synthetic naphthoquinones are mediated by mitochondrial dysfunction. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 47, 644–653.Google Scholar
Pérez-Arriaga, L., Mendoza-Magaña, M. L., Cortés-Zárate, R., Corona-Rivera, A., Bobadilla-Morales, L., Troyo-Sanromán, R. and Ramírez-Herrera, M. A. (2006). Cytotoxic effect of curcumin on Giardia lamblia trophozoites. Acta Tropica 98, 152–161.Google Scholar
Rosa, I. A., Einicker-Lamas, M., Bernardo, R. R. and Benchimol, M. (2008). Cardiolipin, a lipid found in mitochondria, hydrogenosomes and bacteria was not detected in Giardia lamblia. Experimental Parasitology 120, 215–220.Google Scholar
Shemarova, I. V. (2010). Signalling mechanisms of apoptosis like programmed cell death in unicellular eukaryotes. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. Part B, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 155, 341–353.Google Scholar
Svard, S. G., Hagblom, P. and Palm, J. E. (2003). Giardia lamblia – a model organism for eukaryotic cell differentiation. FEMS Microbiology Letters 218, 3–7.Google Scholar
Tan, K. S. W. and Nasirudeen, A. M. A. (2005). Protozoan programmed cell death – insights from Blastocystis deathstyles. Trends in Parasitology 21, 547–550.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. C. (2004). The zoonotic significance and molecular epidemiology of Giardia and Giardiasis. Veterinary Parasitology 126, 15–35.Google Scholar