The amino terminal domain of a novel WD repeat protein from Trypanosoma cruzi contains a non-canonical mitochondrial targeting signal.

WD (tryptophan/aspartic acid) repeat proteins perform a wide variety of functions in eukaryotic cells. They are characterised by the presence of a number of conserved repeat motifs that contribute to the beta-propeller structures which are the common feature of this large group of proteins. We report here the properties of the first characterised member of this family in the American trypanosome, Trypanosoma cruzi (TcBPP1). In the CL Brener clone the protein is 482 amino acids long and is predicted to contain four WD repeat motifs, flanked by amino and carboxyl terminal extensions. TcBPP1 is a single copy gene present on a 1.0/1.6 Mb pair of homologous chromosomes in a locus that is syntenic with the corresponding regions of Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania major chromosomes. Consistent with the proposed hybrid nature of the CL Brener clone, the proteins encoded by the two different alleles share only 97% identity at the amino acid level. To determine subcellular location, we examined transfected parasites for the distribution of green fluorescent protein (GFP) fused with different regions of TcBPP1. These studies demonstrated that a 115 amino acid peptide derived from the amino terminal domain of TcBPP1 is able to target GFP to the mitochondrion. Interestingly this region lacks a typical amino terminal presequence suggesting that mitochondrial import is mediated by an alternative targeting signal.