Inorganic Polyphosphate Interacts with Nucleolar and Glycosomal Proteins in Trypanosomatids

What is it about?

In this work we report that polyphosphate, a polymer of up to hundreds of phosphates linked by high-energy bonds, binds to a number of trypanosomal proteins among them proteins localized to the glycosomes, and to the nucleoli. Polyphosphate was localized by a cytochemical technique to the glycosomes and nucleoli of trypanosomes. Subcellular fractionation confirmed its glycosomal localization. Targeting of an enzyme that cleaves polyphosphate to the glycosomes resulted in increased consumption of glucose, suggesting an inhibitory effect of polyphosphate on glycolysis.

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