Triangulation (Being the record of a discussion of comics theory conducted on 2nd May 2018, transcribed into words and then comics in the period since.)

Doctors John, Thierry and Paul planned to record a conversation about the comics theories they had explored in the course of pursuing their respective PhDs, to see whether these were consistent – with plans to co-created a ‘verbatim comic’ based on the recordings. To keep things manageable each composed five questions, from which two were chosen to answer, for a strict one minute each – with a little chance for comments, questions and responses after. This was still a lot of text to fit into a comic! Each transcribed the questions asked, and of the comic that follows is a result of the subsequent editing and drawing. Thierry passed away in the months following the recording but his self-drawings are re-used here, and his partner Sharon provided a splash image

Analysis of the NTPDase and ecto-5'-nucleotidase profiles in serum-limited Trichomonas vaginalis

Trichomonas vaginalis is a parasite of the human urogenital tract that causes trichomonosis, the most prevalent non-viral sexually transmitted disease. Ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase (NTPDase) family members, which hydrolyse extracellular ATP and ADP and ecto-5′-nucleotidase, which hydrolyses AMP, have been characterised in T. vaginalis. For trichomonad culture, the growth medium is supplemented with 10% serum, which is an important source of nutrients, such as adenosine. Here, we investigated the ATP metabolism of T. vaginalis trophozoites from long-term cultures and clinical isolates under limited bovine serum conditions (1% serum). The specific enzymatic activities were expressed as nmol inorganic phosphate (Pi) released/min/mg protein, the gene expression patterns were determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, the extracellular adenine nucleotide hydrolysis was analysed by high performance liquid chromatography and the cell cycle analysis was assessed by flow cytometry. Serum limitation led to the profound activation of NTPDase and ecto-5'-nucleotidase activities. Furthermore, the levels of NTPDase A and B transcripts increased and extracellular ATP metabolism was activated, which led to enhanced ATP hydrolysis and the formation of ADP and AMP. Moreover, the cell cycle was arrested at the G0/G1 stage, which suggested adenosine uptake. Our data suggest that under conditions of serum limitation, NTPDase and ecto-5'-nucleotidase play a role in providing the adenosine required for T. vaginalis growth and that this process contributes to the establishment of parasitism