Oxidation of Fatty Acids byLeishmania braziliensis panamensis1

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Abstract
Heating cultures of Leishmania braziliensis panamensis (grown at 26.degree.C) to 34.degree.C for 1.5-12 h transformed the cells to an elipsoidally shaped form. The heat treatment caused an increased in the rate of oxidation of both decreased the rate of oxidation of [1-14C]glucose. The rate of fatty acid oxidation continued to increase for times as long as 20 h after returning the cultures to 26.degree.C. In both the promastigote and heat-induced ellipsoidal forms, the ratio of 14CO2 release from [10-14C] to that from [12-14C]laurate was generally larger than four, whereas this ratio from [1-14C]oleate relative to [10-14C]oleate was approximately two. These data show that metabolic and morphological differentiation begin after a short heat treatment and that some metabolic changes may continue even after the reverse transformation is initiated. The data also suggest that either the w-terminal portion of the fatty acids is not completely oxidized to acetyl CoA and/or that there are two functional fatty acid oxidation pathways in Leishmania.