Glyceraldehyde‐phosphate dehydrogenase from Trypanosoma brucei

Abstract

Trypanosoma brucei contains two glyceraldehyde‐phosphate (GAPDH; EC 1.2.1.12) isoenzymes; one is located in glycosomes and represents 80% of the total activity, whereas the other is present in the cytosol. The purification of the cytosolic GAPDH, which is identical in both bloodstream‐form and insect‐stage trypanosomes, is described, and the enzyme compared with its glycosomal counterpart. Cytosolic GAPDH is specific for NAD. It is a tetrameric enzyme with subunits of 33.5 kDa, 5 kDa smaller than those of the glycosomal GAPDH. The native enzyme has a pI of 7.9, which is 1.5 pH units less basic than the glycosomal enzyme. Both enzymes display maximal activity at pH 8 but the cytosolic enzyme has a much broader activity profile especially towards lower pH values. Sequence comparison of the first 85 amino acids reveals that the N‐terminal parts of both isoenzymes differ by 52%. The N terminus of the cytosolic isoenzyme resembles the corresponding N termini of ten other known GAPDH sequences in that they all lack three amino‐acid insertions, which so far only have been found in the glycosomal isoenzyme of T. brucei. This observation explains in part the great difference in subunit size between the two T. brucei isoenzymes and suggests that at least one of these insertions is responsible for import of the glycosomal isoenzyme into the organelle.