Stock Photo - Trypanosoma brucei is a single-celled parasite that causes sleeping sickness in humans. Scientific negatives have been studying trypanosomes for some time because of their effects on human and animal health, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, since these organisms evolved on a separate path from animals and plants over a billion years ago, researchers are studying trypanosomes to find out what traits they may have that are common or different. from those of other eukaryotes (i.e. organisms with a nucleus and mitochondria). This image shows the cell membrane of T. brucei in red, DNA in the nucleus and kinetoplast (a structure unique to protozoa, including trypanosomes, that contains mitochondrial DNA) in blue, and nuclear pore complexes (which allow molecules to pass into or out of the nucleus) in green. Scientists have discovered that the trypanosome nuclear pore complex has a unique mechanism by which it attaches to the nuclear envelope. Moreover, the nuclear pore complex of the trypanosome differs from those of other eukaryotes because its components have almost complete symmetry and lack almost all the proteins which, in the other eukaryotes analyzed so far, are necessary to assemble the pore. To learn more about why researchers are studying the nuclear pore complex in trypanosomes, check out this press release from Rockefeller University. and lta href and