Lactating tsetse flies models for lactating mammals?

An unprecedented study of intra-uterine lactation in the tsetse fly, published 18 April 2012 in Biology of Reproduction's Papers-in-Press, reveals that an enzyme found in the fly's milk functions similarly in mammals, making ...

Sleeping sickness parasites camouflage themselves with sugar

It has long been known that the pathogens causing sleeping sickness evade the immune system by exchanging their surface proteins. But now scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have found an additional parasite ...

Parasite helps itself to sugar

Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite that causes sleeping sickness, is transmitted to mammals by the tsetse fly, and must adapt to the divergent metabolisms of its hosts. A new study shows how it copes with the frugal diet offered ...

Sleeping sickness parasite uses multiple metabolic pathways

Parasitic protozoa called trypanosomes synthesize sugars using an unexpected metabolic pathway called gluconeogenesis, according to a study published December 27 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by David Horn of ...

Trojan horse bacteria use nanobodies to conquer sleeping sickness

Sleeping sickness, caused by the trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei, is transmitted to humans (and animals) via the bite of the tsetse fly. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Microbial Cell Factories ...

Sex matters for microbes

Caught in the act! Researchers from the University of Bristol have observed mating for the first time in the microbes responsible for African sleeping sickness. This tropical disease is caused by trypanosomes, single-celled ...

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