Trypanosoma brucei is a parasitic protozoon that is the causative agent of African sleeping sickness. The picture shows an artistic interpretation of our research subject, which is "mitochondrial tRNA import". The drawings from left to right show Africa (scale 1 : 10⁷), a single cell of T. brucei (scale 10⁵ : 1), its mitochondrion (scale 10⁶ : 1) and a 3-D structural rendering of a tRNA (scale 10⁸ : 1).
We have recently shown that mitochondrial translation is essential in the disease-causing forms of T. brucei suggesting that it might be a novel target for chemotherapy.

This work was carried out in the group of Prof. André Schneider.

References:

• M. Cristodero, T. Seebeck and A. Schneider;
  "Mitochondrial translation is essential in bloodstream forms of
  Trypanosoma brucei"
  Mol. Microbiol., 78, 757-769, (2010);
  doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2010.07368.x.