An essential, kinetoplastid-specific GDP-Fuc: β- < i > D < /i > -Gal α-1,2-fucosyltransferase is located in the mitochondrion of < i > Trypanosoma brucei < /i >

Fucose is a common component of eukaryotic cell-surface glycoconjugates, generally added by Golgi-resident fucosyltransferases. Whereas fucosylated glycoconjugates are rare in kinetoplastids, the biosynthesis of the nucleotide sugar GDP-Fuc has been shown to be essential inTrypanosoma brucei. Here we show that the single identifiableT. brucei fucosyltransferase (TbFUT1) is a GDP-Fuc: β-D-galactose α-1,2-fucosyltransferase with an apparent preference for a Galβ1,3GlcNAcβ1-O-R acceptor motif. Conditional null mutants ofTbFUT1 demonstrated that it is essential for both the mammalian-infective bloodstream form and the insect vector-dwelling procyclic form. Unexpectedly, TbFUT1 was localized in the mitochondrion ofT. brucei and found to be required for mitochondrial function in bloodstream form trypanosomes. Finally, theTbFUT1 gene was able to complement aLeishmania major mutant lacking the homologous fucosyltransferase gene (Guo et al., 2021). Together these results suggest that kinetoplastids possess an unusual, conserved and essential mitochondrial fucosyltransferase activity that may have therapeutic potential across trypanosomatids.
Source: eLife - Category: Biomedical Science Tags: Biochemistry and Chemical Biology Microbiology and Infectious Disease Source Type: research