Abstract
Glycolysis is well described in Trypanosoma brucei, while the importance of gluconeogenesis and one of the key enzymes in that pathway, fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase, is less understood. Using a sensitive and specific assay for FBPase, we demonstrate that FBPase activity in insect stage, procyclic form (PF), parasite changes with parasite cell line, extracellular glucose levels, and cell density. FBPase activity in log phase PF 2913 cells was highest in high glucose conditions, where gluconeogenesis is expected to be inactive, and was undetectable in low glucose, where gluconeogenesis is predicted to be active. This unexpected relationship between FBPase activity and extracellular glucose levels suggests that FBPase may not be exclusively involved in gluconeogenesis and may play an additional role in parasite metabolism. In stationary phase cells, the relationship between FBPase activity and extracellular glucose levels was reversed. Furthermore, we found that monomorphic PF 2913 cells had significantly higher FBPase levels than pleomorphic PF AnTat1.1 cells where the activity was undetectable except when cells were grown in standard SDM79 media, which is glucose-rich and commonly used to grow PF trypanosomes in vitro. Finally, we observed several conditions where FBPase activity changed while protein levels did not, suggesting that the enzyme may be regulated via post-translational modifications.