Philippe BASTIN

Information

Scientific interests and projects

The Trypanosome Cell Biology Unit fits perfectly with the 4 major scientific topics highlighted by the ParaFrap consortium:

• Post-genomic data exploration: The unit is studying the function of various genes in trypanosomes, especially at the level of the cytoskeleton, using a collection of tools such as inducible RNAi, double knockout, gene replacement or Cas9/Cas13 approaches. This is done at the level of parasites in culture but also during infection in tsetse flies or in mice.

• Mechanisms of pathogenesis: Thanks to its own tsetse fly breeding colony, the unit can ask questions through the full life cycle of African trypanosomes and importantly it can study the infection via the natural route that is the bite of the tsetse fly.

• Parasite molecular and cellular biology: The unit is well known for cell biology, especially in the context of cell movement, protein trafficking and organelle function, once again in in vitro and in vivo contexts.

• Towards new intervention strategies against parasitic pathogens: The work carried out in the field in collaboration with the IRD and partners in Africa has significant potential for the diagnosis of gambiense HAT and could change the way both patient treatment and follow-up is carried out. It could be very significant for the WHO programme of elimination of the disease

Top 5 publications of the last 5 years

1.Capewell P, Atkins K, Weir W, Jamonneau V, Camara M, Clucas C, Swar NK, Ngoyi DM, Rotureau B, Garside P, Galvani AP, Bucheton B, MacLeod A. Resolving the apparent transmission paradox of African sleeping sickness. PLoS Biol. 2019 Jan 11;17(1):e3000105. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000105.

2. Camara M, Soumah AM, Ilboudo H, Travaillé C, Clucas C, Cooper A, Kuispond Swar NR, Camara O, Sadissou I, Calvo Alvarez E, Crouzols A, Bart JM, Jamonneau V, Camara M, MacLeod A, Bucheton B, Rotureau B. Extravascular Dermal Trypanosomes in Suspected and Confirmed Cases of gambiense Human African Trypanosomiasis. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Jul 1;73(1):12-20. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa897.

3. Allmann S, Wargnies M, Plazolles N, Cahoreau E, Biran M, Morand P, Pineda E, Kulyk H, Asencio C, Villafraz O, Rivière L, Tetaud E, Rotureau B, Mourier A, Portais JC, Bringaud F. Glycerol suppresses glucose consumption in trypanosomes through metabolic contest. PLoS Biol. 2021 Aug 13;19(8):e3001359. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001359.

4. Hutchinson S, Foulon S, Crouzols A, Menafra R, Rotureau B, Griffiths AD, Bastin P. The establishment of variant surface glycoprotein monoallelic expression revealed by single-cell RNA-seq of Trypanosoma brucei in the tsetse fly salivary glands. PLoS Pathog. 2021 Sep 20;17(9):e1009904. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009904.

5. Bachmaier S, Giacomelli G, Calvo-Alvarez E, Vieira LR, Van Den Abbeele J, Aristodemou A, Lorentzen E, Gould MK, Brennand A, Dupuy JW, Forné I, Imhof A, Bramkamp M, Salmon D, Rotureau B, Boshart M. A multi-adenylate cyclase regulator at the flagellar tip controls African trypanosome transmission. Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 16;13(1):5445. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33108-z.