Glossary
Biological diversity of T. cruzi The polymorphism that T. cruzi presents in several parameters used for its biological characterization such as antigenicity, infectivity for vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, metacyclogenesis, virulence and pathogenicity for vertebrate hosts, susceptibility or resistance to drugs, and others.
Blood polymorphism of T. cruzi The different morphological aspects observed in the blood trypomastigote stages of different T. cruzi stocks or strains or even during the acute phase of infection of the same T. cruzi strain. The morphological aspects can vary from slender, intermediate, broad, and stout forms.
Cytoskeleton A heavily microtubule-based skeleton, containing many interesting protein structures which involves and sustain the parasite shape. For details see Refs. [9,122].
Flagellum An organelle usually attached to the cell body that emerges from an invagination called the flagellar pocket present in all trypanosomatids responsible for cell movement. It emerges at the anterior tip or somewhere along the side of the cell depending on the evolutive form or developmental stage. Its length also varies with their developmental stage. It has a basic structure similar to other flagella, showing a 9 1 2 pattern of axone- mal microtubules. For details see Refs. [9,122].
Kinetoplast An important structure in the recognition of the order Kinetoplastida that includes the family Trypanosomatidae comprising a mass of circular DNA inside the trypanosome’s mitochondrion attached to the basal bodies of the flagellum. Division of the kinetoplast is a reliable marker of a certain point in the cell cycle, making it important in cell cycle studies. Electron microscopy shows that the kinetoplast consists of a network of minicircle molecules associated with each other and with long linear molecules concatenated to the maxicircles. Restriction enzyme analysis has shown that the minicircles are heterogeneous and their study has been used for the genetic characterization of the parasite. It is believed that the maxicircles contain genetic information. For details see Refs. [9,122].
Lysosome An organelle present in the cytoplasm of the parasite rich in digestive substances and Ca21 ions that approximates from the phagocytic vacuoles during parasite penetration in the vertebrate cells.
Parasitophorous vacuole Resultant of the transformations that the host mammalian membrane cell and the T. cruzi membrane surface suffer after interaction, which results in the parasite offering temporary conditions of its survival before further transformation into amastigote stages. Inside this vacuole the transformation of trypomastigote into amastigotes occurs after passage by an intermediate epimastigote stage. For details see Refs. [9,122].
Plasma membrane An organelle strongly associated with microtubules and microfilaments that cover the trypanosome surface with hundreds of important receptors. A large number of proteins are associated with the plasma membrane. Recent studies have characterized some details of the biosynthesis of the GPI anchor, which involves several important biochemical steps for this parasite. The surface receptors are involved in the uptake of all the necessary host resources for the parasite. For details see Refs. [9,122].
Spheromastigote The first T. cruzi evolutionary stage present in the prior intestine (midgut) of the invertebrate host (triatomine vectors) that initiates the epimastigote stage of the parasite in the vector described by Brack.38
Tc-Tox protein (Tc85 kDa) A complement 9 (C9) factor-related molecule or hemolysin that, at low pH, destroys the parasitophorous vacuole membrane releasing the parasite in the cytosol of the host cell25 where the biological cycle of T. cruzi continues.
