Authors
H M De la Torre1; J C Mottram2; T C Hammarton1;
1 Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow; 2 University of York
Discussion
Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan parasite that causes sleeping sickness (in humans) and nagana (in cattle), which result in major health and economic problems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The life cycle of the parasite is complex involving a mammalian host and an insect vector (tsetse fly, Glossina spp.). In an RNAi screen (Jones et al., 2014) of the protein kinome of the bloodstream form (BSF) of T. brucei, 6 protein kinases were identified as playing a key role in the cell cycle of the parasite. Here, more detailed analysis reveals that 3 of these kinases are essential for cytokinesis.