Oxidative Phosphorylation Is Required for Powering Motility and Development of the Sleeping Sickness Parasite Trypanosoma brucei in the Tsetse Fly Vector
Caroline E. Dewar, Aitor Casas-Sánchez, Constentin Dieme, Aline Crouzols, Lee R. Haines, Álvaro Acosta-Serrano, Brice Rotureau, Achim Schnaufer
Abstract
African trypanosomes cause disease in humans and their livestock and are transmitted by tsetse flies. The insect ingests these parasites with its blood meal, but to be transmitted to another mammal, the trypanosome must undergo complex development within the tsetse fly and migrate from the insect's gut to its salivary glands. Crucially, the parasite must switch from a sugar-based diet while in the mammal to a diet based primarily on amino acids when it develops in the insect. Here, we show that efficient energy production by an organelle called the mitochondrion is critical for the trypanosome's ability to swim and to migrate through the tsetse fly. Surprisingly, trypanosomes with impaired mitochondrial energy production are only mildly compromised in their ability to colonize the tsetse fly midgut. Our study adds a new perspective to the emerging view that infection of tsetse flies by trypanosomes is more complex than previously thought.