Discussion

The flagellum of Trypanosomes is important for many aspect of pathogenicity. They assemble from basal bodies, which are located at the proximal end of the flagellum inside the flagellar pocket. Basal bodies are crucial for flagellum function and exist as a pair that are physically connected to each other. During the cell cycle, basal bodies duplicate and segregate to the two daughter cells and connections between them must re-organise and sever in order for the basal body pairs and two flagella to segregate. The structural organisation of the connections and the molecular characterisation are poorly understood. We have used Electron tomography to characterise the connections through the cell cycle. In addition we have discovered a hypothetical protein that localises between the basal bodies and is important for basal body segregation.