Oxygen sensing by protozoans: how they catch their breath.

Oxygen sensing by protozoans: how they catch their breath. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2015 May 15;26:41-47 Authors: West CM, Blader IJ Abstract Cells must know the local levels of available oxygen and either adapt accordingly or relocate to more favorable environments. Prolyl 4-hydroxylases (P4Hs) are emerging as universal cellular oxygen sensors. In animals, these oxygen sensors respond to decreased oxygen availability by up-regulating hypoxia-inducible transcription factors. In protozoa, the P4Hs appear to activate E3-SCF ubiquitin ligase complexes via a glycosylation-dependent mechanism, potentially to turn over their proteomes. Intracellular parasites are impacted by both types of oxygen-sensing pathways. Since parasites are exposed to diverse oxygen tensions during their life cycles, this review identifies emerging oxygen-sensing mechanisms and discusses how these mechanisms probably contribute to the regulation of unicellular eukaryotes. PMID: 25988702 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Curr Opin Microbiol Source Type: research