Berlin 2018 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 23: Bioimaging and Biopspectroscopy II

BP 23.2: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 14. März 2018, 15:15–15:30, H 2013

Structure and Dynamics of the Trypanosoma brucei Plasma Membrane — Marius Glogger, •Marie Schwebs, Markus Engstler, and Susanne Fenz — Universität Würzburg, Biocenter: Cell and Developmental Biology, Würzburg, Germany

African trypanosomes are the causative agents of sleeping sickness in human and Nagana in livestock. In the bloodstream of their host, they exhibit a dense coat of variant surface glycoproteins (VSG). Fluidity of the VSG coat is a fundamental for parasite survival. However, the diffusion behavior of the VSGs is also limited by the physical properties of their lipid matrix. We have recently introduced super-resolution imaging of intrinsically fast moving flagellates based on cyto-compatible hydrogel embedding [Glogger et al. JPD: Appl Phys 17]. Building on this work we employ leaflet-specific membrane probes and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to elucidate the structure and dynamics of the plasma membrane and VSG coat in living trypanosomes. Using expressed lipid-anchored eYFP as a probe for the inner membrane leaflet, we found specific domains where the probe accumulates or appears diluted rather than being homogenously distributed. We hypothesize that this structuring of the membrane is associated with the underlying microtubule cytoskeleton. The next steps include employment of a more stable fluorescent label to resolve dynamic interaction of single probes with the observed domains. Moreover, we aim to track fluorescently labeled lipids in the outer leaflet to gain insight in inter-leaflet coupling in vivo, and we plan a two-color experiment to simultaneously investigate membrane and VSG dynamics.