Trypanosoma cruzi, a flagellated protozoan, is the causative agent of Chagas disease. The parasite has developed various mechanisms to get through its intricate life cycle and adapt to different evolutionary phases. T. cruzi proliferates in the insect vector's digestive tract as an epimastigote form, encountering fluctuating nutrient availability and oxidative stress caused by the digestion of red blood cells from the mammalian host blood meal. To unravel how the parasite's metabolism adapts to these changing conditions, we conducted an analysis of the chemical species present in epimastigote forms. This involved comparing cultured parasites with those subjected to nutritional deficiency or oxidative stress using untargeted metabolomics. We looked at 21 samples: seven biological copies of parasites that were actively growing, seven samples that were put in a medium without nutrients for 3 h, and seven samples that were treated with glucose oxidase for 30 min to make H2O2 continuously. Importantly, in all conditions, parasite viability was maintained when the samples were collected. Upon nutrient removal, we observed a substantial decrease in amino acids and carbohydrate metabolites, accompanied by the accumulation of fatty acids and steroids, with the predominance of inositol and sphingolipid metabolism, along with a simultaneous decrease in the levels of H2O2. In the presence of H2O2, a significant rise in components of the pentose pathway and specific amino acids such as methionine and serine occurred, along with pathways related to an increase in antioxidant species metabolism such as ribulose 5‐phosphate and glyceric acid. Conversely, fatty acid and steroid levels decrease. We found no common increase in metabolites or lipids. In contrast, eight species (succinic acid, glutamic acid, valine, 2‐hydroxyisocaproic acid, alanine, indolelactic acid, proline, and lanosterol) were consumed under both stresses. These findings underscore the rapid and distinct enrichment responses in amino acids, lipids, and carbohydrates required to cope with each different environmental condition. We concluded that T. cruzi presents a flexible metabolism that rapidly adapts to variable changes in the environment.

中文翻译：

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营养和氧化应激对克氏锥虫代谢组的影响


克氏锥虫是一种有鞭毛的原生动物，是恰加斯病的病原体。这种寄生虫已经发展出各种机制来度过其复杂的生命周期并适应不同的进化阶段。克鲁兹以上鞭毛体形式在昆虫媒介的消化道中增殖，遇到营养可用性波动和消化哺乳动物宿主血粉中的红细胞引起的氧化应激。为了揭示寄生虫的新陈代谢如何适应这些变化的条件，我们对表鞭毛体形式中存在的化学物质进行了分析。这涉及使用非靶向代谢组学将培养的寄生虫与遭受营养缺乏或氧化应激的寄生虫进行比较。我们观察了 21 个样本：7 个正在活跃生长的寄生虫生物副本，7 个样本被放入不含营养物质的培养基中 3 小时，7 个样本用葡萄糖氧化酶处理 30 分钟以产生 H 2氧2连续地。重要的是，在所有条件下，收集样品时寄生虫的活力均得以维持。营养物质去除后，我们观察到氨基酸和碳水化合物代谢物大幅减少，伴随着脂肪酸和类固醇的积累，肌醇和鞘脂代谢占主导地位，同时 H 水平下降2氧2 。 在H存在的情况下2氧2 ，戊糖途径和特定氨基酸（例如蛋氨酸和丝氨酸）的成分显着增加，以及与抗氧化剂物质代谢增加相关的途径（例如核酮糖5-磷酸和甘油酸）。相反，脂肪酸和类固醇水平降低。我们发现代谢物或脂质没有普遍增加。相比之下，两种胁迫下消耗了八种物质（琥珀酸、谷氨酸、缬氨酸、2-羟基异己酸、丙氨酸、吲哚乳酸、脯氨酸和羊毛甾醇）。这些发现强调了应对每种不同环境条件所需的氨基酸、脂质和碳水化合物的快速且独特的富集反应。我们的结论是克鲁兹呈现出灵活的新陈代谢，可以快速适应环境的变化。