Trypanosomes have a very reduced actomyosin system, and Trypanosoma brucei expresses only a single actin gene and two myosin genes. The retention of this rudimentary actomyosin system alongside the trypanosomes' massive investment in their microtubule system suggests that the actomyosin system performs certain functions that the microtubule cytoskeleton cannot recapitulate. Both of the T. brucei myosins have received little attention to date. The data here represent the first steps in a full characterisation of these two proteins in bloodstream form T. brucei.
