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Updated: Jul 27, 2025

Biophysical Characterization of Flagellar Motor Functions
Published on: January 18, 2017
The hows and whys of amastigote flagellum motility in
Aline Araujo Alves1, Philippe Bastin1
1Trypanosome Cell Biology Unit, Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris Cité, INSERM U1201 , Paris, France.
Abstract:
The protist Trypanosoma cruzi exhibits several extracellular stages characterized by the presence of a long and motile flagellum and one intracellular life cycle stage termed amastigote, which possesses a tiny flagellum barely exiting the flagellar pocket. This stage was so far described as replicative but immotile cells. Unexpectedly, the recent work of M. M. Won, T. Krüger, M. Engstler, and B. A. Burleigh (mBio 14:e03556-22, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.03556-22) revealed that this short flagellum actually displays beating activity. This commentary explores how such a short flagellum could be constructed and why it could affect the parasite's survival inside the mammalian host.
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