TRYPANOSOMATID PROTOZOA PROVIDE PARADIGMS OF EUKARYOTIC BIOLOGY

Over the last 10 years, trypanosomatid protozoa have been the subject of intense investigation particularly focusing on their parasitic life style and their intriguing and novel cell properties. These studies ha ve furthered our understanding of the physiology and functioning of th ese cells and have identified a large number of biochemical and metabo lic peculiarities, including mitochondrial function, enzymatic compart mentalization, and gene expression. This review focuses on the mode of gene expression and highlights areas of trypanosome research that hav e provided paradigms of eukaryotic biology.