Nanotube Breakdown to Vesicles (VIDEO)
Caption
This video shows nanotubes giving rise to small extracellular vesicles. University of Georgia researchers discovered that long filaments -- that look like beads on a string -- form by budding from the flagellum of African trypanosomes and then release pieces of the parasite into the host. This causes anemia and influences the outcome of infection leading to human African sleeping sickness and the cattle disease nagana.
The UGA researchers theorize that the extracellular vesicles, as the free-floating beads are scientifically known, are being used by the parasite to communicate with each other and with the host's body.
Credit
Stephen Hajduk/University of Georgia
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