Highly purified glycosomes were isolated from Trypanosoma brucei bloodstream forms and cultured procyclic trypomastigotes. A comparison of the specific activities of glycosomal enzymes revealed that glycosomes from insect stages had decreased levels of hexokinase, phosphoglucose isomerase, phospho-fructokinase, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoglycerate kinase, but contained increased levels of adenylate kinase, malate dehydrogenase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. Glycosomes from bloodstream forms were almost totally devoid of the latter two activities. Comparison of the two types of glycosomes by sodium dodecylsulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that bloodstream form glycosomes contained 3 prominent polypeptides (64, 46 and 40 kDa) which were hardly detectable in insect stage glycosomes, whereas the latter contained 3 insect stage specific bands with molecular weight of 34 000, 61 000 and 77 000 and 4 additional bands with molecular weights between 94 000 and 110 000. Both types of glycosome contained the phospholipids phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. Insect stage glycosomes contained in addition also phosphatidylinositol and some phosphatidylserine.