Carbon-13 nuclear-magnetic-resonance studies of glucose catabolism by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense.

13C Nuclear magnetic resonance studies have been performed in vivo on Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. The glycolytic pathway has been observed using specifically labelled 13C-enriched glucose and it has been ascertained that there is, under anaerobic conditions, predominant incorporation of C-1 of glucose into glycerol while there is complete randomisation of C-6 of glucose into glycerol and pyruvate. These observations cannot be reconciled by the Embden-Meyerhof glycolytic pathway, purportedly the mechanism by which glucose is catabolised in these organisms, and an alternative pathway must exist. Comparison of whole-cell and acid-lysate 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra concludes that pyruvate may be initially formed bound to a macromolecular species. Also, alanine is found to be a major end product of glucose catabolism.

[1]  K. H. Nielsen.  Paper chromatographic determination of aromatic α-keto acids , 1963 .

[2]  U. Langenbeck,et al.  Gas chromatography of α-keto acids as their o-trimethylsilylquinoxalinol derivatives , 1975 .

[3]  H. Dixon.  Blood Platelets as a Source of Enzyme Activity in Washed Trypanosome Suspensions , 1966, Nature.

[4]  F. Brohn,et al.  Trypanosoma brucei brucei: Patterns of glycolysis at 37°C in vitro , 1980 .

[5]  D. F. Spooner,et al.  Terminal respiration in certain mammalian trypanosomes. , 1959, Experimental parasitology.

[6]  T R Brown,et al.  High-resolution 13C nuclear magnetic resonance studies of glucose metabolism in Escherichia coli. , 1978, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[7]  R. Baxter,et al.  Applications of CNMR to Metabolic Studies , 1981 .

[8]  I. Weissman,et al.  Allogeneic cytolysis of reconstituted membrane vesicles. , 1979, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[9]  D. Godfrey,et al.  Isolation of salivarian trypanosomes from man and other mammals using DEAE-cellulose. , 1970, Experimental parasitology.

[10]  J. Sargent,et al.  Properties of L-alpha-glycerophosphate oxidase and its role in the respiration of Trypanosoma rhodesiense. , 1960, The Biochemical journal.

[11]  F. Opperdoes,et al.  The potential use of inhibitors of glycerol‐3‐phosphate oxidase for chemotherapy of African trypanosomiasis , 1976, FEBS letters.

[12]  J. Watson,et al.  Enzymic assay of glycerol, dihydroxyacetone, and glyceraldehyde. , 1967, Archives of biochemistry and biophysics.

[13]  F. Brohn,et al.  Quantitative effects of salycylhydroxamic acid and glycerol on Trypanosoma brucei glycolysis in vitro and in vivo. , 1978, Acta tropica.

[14]  J. Gruenberg,et al.  D-Glucose transport in Trypanosoma brucei. D-Glucose transport is the rate-limiting step of its metabolism. , 1978, European journal of biochemistry.

[15]  R. Baxter,et al.  Direct non-invasive observation of metabolism in living cells by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , 1980 .

[16]  I. Scott.  Factors controlling the expressed activity of histidine ammonia-lyase in the epidermis and the resulting accumulation of urocanic acid. , 1981, The Biochemical journal.

[17]  P T GRANT,et al.  The catabolism of glucose by strains of Trypanosoma rhodesiense. , 1957, The Biochemical journal.

[18]  J. F. Ryley,et al.  Studies on the metabolism of the protozoa. 9. Comparative metabolism of blood-stream and culture forms of Trypanosoma rhodesiense. , 1962, The Biochemical journal.

[19]  P. Jordan,et al.  Control of porphyrin biosynthesis in Rhodopseudomonas spheroides and Propionibacterium shermanii. A direct 13C nuclear-magnetic-resonance spectroscopy study. , 1981, The Biochemical journal.

[20]  D. Doddrell,et al.  Natural Abundance Carbon‐13 Partially Relaxed Fourier Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectra of Complex Molecules , 1971 .

[21]  T R Brown,et al.  Cellular applications of 31P and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance. , 1979, Science.

[22]  G. Gass,et al.  Hyperlipemia and atherosclerosis: a preliminary note on the mechanism of action. , 1973, Comparative biochemistry and physiology. A, Comparative physiology.

[23]  U. Langenbeck,et al.  Quantitative gas chromatography and single-ion detection of aliphatic α-keto acids from urine as their o-trimethylsilylquinoxalinol derivatives , 1977 .

[24]  Kreutz Fh.  Enzymatic glycerin determination , 1962 .