ArticleThe EMBO journal2003
Sphingolipids are essential for differentiation but not growth in Leishmania.
Article in The EMBO journal, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 122 citations in OpenAlex.
- Functional Dissection ofToxins · 2026Article
- Unraveling Leishmania major Metacyclogenesis: A Comprehensive Analysis of Transcriptomic and Metabolomic ProfilesIranian biomedical journal · 2025Article
- A Proteogenomic Approach for the Identification of Virulence Factors in Leishmania Parasites.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Deletion of the lipid droplet protein kinase gene affects lipid droplets biogenesis, parasite infectivity, and resistance to trivalent antimony in Leishmania infantum.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Anthelmintic efficacy evaluation and mechanism of N-methylbenzo[d]oxazol-2-amine.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Deciphering the Molecular Mechanism and Function of Pore-Forming Toxins using Leishmania major.Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE · 2022Article
- The Golgi-localized sphingosine-1-phosphate phosphatase is indispensable for Leishmania major.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Fatty Acid Profiles ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Genome deletions to overcome the directed loss of gene function inFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- The lipidome ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- Balancing de novo synthesis and salvage of lipids by Leishmania amastigotes.Current opinion in microbiology · 2021Review
- Sterol 14-α-demethylase is vital for mitochondrial functions and stress tolerance in Leishmania major.PLoS pathogens · 2020Article
- Transcriptional and genomic parallels between the monoxenous parasite Herpetomonas muscarum and Leishmania.PLoS genetics · 2019Article
- Phosphatidylcholine synthesis through cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase is dispensable in Leishmania major.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Sterol methyltransferase is required for optimal mitochondrial function and virulence in Leishmania major.Molecular microbiology · 2019Article
- Sphingolipid biosynthesis in man and microbes.Natural product reports · 2018Review
- Cyclopropane fatty acid synthesis affects cell shape and acid resistance in Leishmania mexicana.International journal for parasitology · 2018Article
- Everybody needs sphingolipids, right! Mining for new drug targets in protozoan sphingolipid biosynthesis.Parasitology · 2018Review
- Genetic diversity of Leishmania donovani that causes cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sri Lanka: a cross sectional study with regional comparisons.BMC infectious diseases · 2017Article
- Lipidomics and anti-trypanosomatid chemotherapy.Clinical and translational medicine · 2017Review
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Sphingolipids (SLs) play critical roles in eukaryotic cells in the formation of lipid rafts, membrane trafficking, and signal transduction. Here we created a SL null mutant in the protozoan parasite Leishmania major through targeted deletion of the key de novo biosynthetic enzyme serine palmitoyltransferase subunit 2 (SPT2). Although SLs are typically essential, spt2- Leishmania were viable, yet were completely deficient in de novo sphingolipid synthesis, and lacked inositol phosphorylceramides and other SLs. Remarkably, spt2- parasites maintained 'lipid rafts' as defined by Triton X-100 detergent resistant membrane formation. Upon entry to stationary phase spt2- failed to differentiate to infective metacyclic parasites and died instead. Death occurred not by apoptosis or changes in metacyclic gene expression, but from catastrophic problems leading to accumulation of small vesicles characteristic of the multivesicular body/multivesicular tubule network. Stage specificity may reflect changes in membrane structure as well as elevated demands in vesicular trafficking required for parasite remodeling during differentiation. We suggest that SL-deficient Leishmania provide a useful biological setting for tests of essential SL enzymes in other organisms where SL perturbation is lethal.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.