Morphogenesis in Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes proceeds via a highly asymmetric cell division
Fig 1
The morphotypes of Trypanosoma cruzi.
All T. cruzi morphotypes contain a flagellum that is nucleated from a basal body which is docked to the membrane of the flagellar pocket. The basal body is also connected to the kinetoplast, which is the mitochondrial DNA aggregate. The shape of the cell bodies is defined by a set of subpellicular MTs that underlie the plasma membrane (depicted only in the epimastigote form). In the epimastigote and trypomastigote forms, the flagellum emerges onto the cell surface and is attached to the cell body by the flagellum attachment zone (comprising the MtQ and FAZ filament), both of which extend towards the anterior end of the cell body. The primary morphologic difference between epimastigotes and trypomastigotes is the positioning of the kinetoplast-basal body-flagellar pocket, which is posterior to the nucleus in epimastigotes and anterior in trypomastigotes. Amastigote form parasites are small, ovoid-shaped cells with short flagella that extend only 2–3 μm outside of the flagellar pocket.