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Leishmania infantum ZIP3 is a zinc transporter that is tightly regulated by zinc status
Author(s) -
Carvalho Sandra,
Silva Rosa,
Shawki Ali,
Mackenzie Bryan,
Castro Helena,
Eide David,
Costa Vítor,
Tomás Ana M
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.1112.4
Subject(s) - zinc , transporter , messenger rna , chemistry , leishmania infantum , biochemistry , biology , leishmania , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , parasite hosting , organic chemistry , world wide web , computer science
The ZIP family comprises proteins involved in transport of divalent metals in many organisms. Among three putative ZIP members in L. infantum , we have identified Li ZIP3 as a protein involved in the acquisition of zinc since (1) expression of Li ZIP3 in a yeast strain defective in zinc acquisition systems rescued the growth in zinc‐limiting medium and (2) expression of Li ZIP3 in Xenopus laevis oocytes modestly stimulated the uptake of 65 Zn 2+ . In L. infantum , Li ZIP3 expression was induced in the presence of the metal chelator EDTA and decreased following the addition of zinc. Furthermore, we found that, whereas the protein was present at the surface of the parasite under zinc‐limiting conditions, Li ZIP3 level decreased after 24 hours of zinc supplementation and membrane localization was lost. LiZIP3 mRNA levels increased when parasites were grown in low‐zinc medium and decreased within one hour following zinc addition, indicating that regulation of Li ZIP3 expression is mediated largely at the level of mRNA stability. We observed no LiZIP3 mRNA down‐regulation in response to zinc when we inhibited protein synthesis, implicating a labile protein in the destabilization of the mRNA when zinc is available. Together, our data suggest that Li ZIP3 is a zinc transporter ‐ the first identified in Leishmania ‐ and that its expression is tightly regulated by zinc status. Financial support – FCT, NIDDK, Univ. Cincinnati, NCI