Comprehensive characterization of purine and pyrimidine transport activities in Trichomonas vaginalis and functional cloning of a trichomonad nucleoside transporter

Trichomoniasis is a common and widespread sexually‐transmitted infection, caused by the protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis. T. vaginalis lacks the biosynthetic pathways for purines and pyrimidines, making nucleoside metabolism a drug target. Here we report the first comprehensive investigation into purine and pyrimidine uptake by T. vaginalis. Multiple carriers were identified and characterized with regard to substrate selectivity and affinity. For nucleobases, a high‐affinity adenine transporter, a possible guanine transporter and a low affinity uracil transporter were found. Nucleoside transporters included two high affinity adenosine/guanosine/uridine/cytidine transporters distinguished by different affinities to inosine, a lower affinity adenosine transporter, and a thymidine transporter. Nine Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter (ENT) genes were identified in the T. vaginalis genome. All were expressed equally in metronidazole‐resistant and ‐sensitive strains. Only TvagENT2 was significantly upregulated in the presence of extracellular purines; expression was not affected by co‐culture with human cervical epithelial cells. All TvagENTs were cloned and separately expressed in Trypanosoma brucei. We identified the main broad specificity nucleoside carrier, with high affinity for uridine and cytidine as well as purine nucleosides including inosine, as TvagENT3. The in‐depth characterization of purine and pyrimidine transporters provides a critical foundation for the development of new anti‐trichomonal nucleoside analogues. The sexually transmitted disease trichomoniasis is caused by the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis, which is unable to make its own purine and pyrimidine nucleotides for DNA and RNA synthesis. This makes nucleotide metabolism a potential drug target. Antimetabolites and inhibitors will need to enter through purine/pyrimidine transporters. This paper describes these carriers in T. vaginalis cells in detail, identifies nine nucleoside transporter genes and characterises one in detail after cloning into a different cell type.