Ion transport in parasitic protozoa.

Many parasitic protozoa go through complex life cycles in the course of which they adapt to widely different environments; ion transport processes are expected to play a role both in pathogenicity and in adaptation. So far, studies on ion transport have been virtually limited to Leishmania, Plasmodium and Entamoeba. The distribution of ion pumps in the former two organisms generally appears to conform to the picture established for other protozoa, i.e. a proton-motive P-ATPase in the plasma membrane provides the driving force for H(+)-coupled secondary-active transport, a proton-motive V-ATPase in the digestive vacuoles is responsible for vacuolar acidification, and an F-ATPase (ATP synthase) is found in the mitochondria. The situation in Entamoeba, an archaic organism that lacks mitochondria, could be different from that in the two other parasites in that a V-ATPase may be present and active both in the plasma membrane and in the membranes of the endocytic vesicles.