ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2014
A panel of Trypanosoma brucei strains tagged with blue and red-shifted luciferases for bioluminescent imaging in murine infection models.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Noninvasive, Fluorescence-Based Detection of Perturbations in the Thiol-Redox Homeostasis of Bloodstream Trypanosoma brucei brucei.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- A CRISPR-based diagnostic tool to survey drug resistance in human African trypanosomiasis.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2025Article
- Comparison of Bioluminescent Substrates in Natural Infection Models of Neglected Parasitic Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- A Simple, Robust, and Affordable Bioluminescent Assay for Drug Screening Against Infective African Trypanosomes.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022Article
- Autoimmunity to phosphatidylserine and anemia in African Trypanosome infections.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
- Combining tubercidin and cordycepin scaffolds results in highly active candidates to treat late-stage sleeping sickness.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Red-emitting chimeric firefly luciferase for in vivo imaging in low ATP cellular environments.Analytical biochemistry · 2017Article
- Development of a Click Beetle Luciferase Reporter System for Enhanced Bioluminescence Imaging ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2017Article
- The Dermis as a Delivery Site of Trypanosoma brucei for Tsetse Flies.PLoS pathogens · 2016Article
- New Trypanosoma evansi Type B Isolates from Ethiopian Dromedary Camels.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2016Article
- Enlightening the malaria parasite life cycle: bioluminescent Plasmodium in fundamental and applied research.Frontiers in microbiology · 2015Review
- Melarsoprol sensitivity profile of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense isolates from cured and relapsed sleeping sickness patients from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2014Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGenetic engineering with luciferase reporter genes allows monitoring Trypanosoma brucei (T.b.) infections in mice by in vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI). Until recently, luminescent T.b. models were based on Renilla luciferase (RLuc) activity. Our study aimed at evaluating red-shifted luciferases for in vivo BLI in a set of diverse T.b. strains of all three subspecies, including some recently isolated from human patients. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsWe transfected T.b. brucei, T.b. rhodesiense and T.b. gambiense strains with either RLuc, click beetle red (CBR) or Photinus pyralis RE9 (PpyRE9) luciferase and characterised their in vitro luciferase activity, growth profile and drug sensitivity, and their potential for in vivo BLI. Compared to RLuc, the red-shifted luciferases, CBR and PpyRE9, allow tracking of T.b. brucei AnTaR 1 trypanosomes with higher details on tissue distribution, and PpyRE9 allows detection of the parasites with a sensitivity of at least one order of magnitude higher than CBR luciferase. With CBR-tagged T.b. gambiense LiTaR1, T.b. rhodesiense RUMPHI and T.b. gambiense 348 BT in an acute, subacute and chronic infection model respectively, we observed differences in parasite tropism for murine tissues during in vivo BLI. Ex vivo BLI on the brain confirmed central nervous system infection by all luminescent strains of T.b. brucei AnTaR 1, T.b. rhodesiense RUMPHI and T.b. gambiense 348 BT. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We established a genetically and phenotypically diverse collection of bioluminescent T.b. brucei, T.b. gambiense and T.b. rhodesiense strains, including drug resistant strains. For in vivo BLI monitoring of murine infections, we recommend trypanosome strains transfected with red-shifted luciferase reporter genes, such as CBR and PpyRE9. Red-shifted luciferases can be detected with a higher sensitivity in vivo and at the same time they improve the spatial resolution of the parasites in the entire body due to the better kinetics of their substrate D-luciferin.
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