Intracellular membrane transport systems in Trypanosoma brucei

Trypanosomes belong to the order kinetoplastida, an early diverging group of organisms in the eukaryotic lineage. The principal reasons for interest in these organisms are twofold; they provide a superb distant triangulation point from which to assess global features of eukaryotic biology and, more importantly, they are representative of a number of pathogenic parasitic protozoa with a huge public health impact --Trypanosoma brucei, T. cruzi and Leishmania spp. Recent advances in the study of intracellular transport in T. brucei have been considerable, and a fuller picture of the complexity, function and role that the endomembrane system plays in trypanosomes is finally emerging.