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1.
Positive selection is a general phenomenon in the evolution of abalone sperm lysin 总被引:36,自引:21,他引:15
Lysin is a 16kDa acrosomal protein used by abalone sperm to create a hole
in the egg vitelline envelope (VE). The interaction of lysin with the VE is
species-selective and is one step in the multistep fertilization process
that restricts heterospecific (cross-species) fertilization. For this
reason, the evolution of lysin could play a role in establishing prezygotic
reproductive isolation between species. Previously, we sequenced sperm
lysin cDNAs from seven California abalone species and showed that positive
Darwinian selection promotes their divergence. In this paper an additional
13 lysin sequences are presented representing species from Japan, Taiwan,
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Europe. The total of 20 sequences
represents the most extensive analysis of a fertilization protein to date.
The phylogenetic analysis divides the sequences into two major clades, one
composed of species from the northern Pacific (California and Japan) and
the other composed of species from other parts of the world. Analysis of
nucleotide substitution demonstrates that positive selection is a general
process in the evolution of this fertilization protein. Analysis of
nucleotide and codon usage bias shows that neither parameter can account
for the robust data supporting positive selection. The selection pressure
responsible for the positive selection on lysin remains unknown.
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2.
Daniela I. Staquicini Rafael M. Martins Silene Macedo Gisela R. S. Sasso Vanessa D. Atayde Maria A. Juliano Nobuko Yoshida 《PLoS neglected tropical diseases》2010,4(3)
Oral infection by Trypanosoma cruzi has been the primary cause of recent outbreaks of acute Chagas'' diseases. This route of infection may involve selective binding of the metacyclic trypomastigote surface molecule gp82 to gastric mucin as a first step towards invasion of the gastric mucosal epithelium and subsequent systemic infection. Here we addressed that question by performing in vitro and in vivo experiments. A recombinant protein containing the complete gp82 sequence (J18), a construct lacking the gp82 central domain (J18*), and 20-mer synthetic peptides based on the gp82 central domain, were used for gastric mucin binding and HeLa cell invasion assays, or for in vivo experiments. Metacyclic trypomastigotes and J18 bound to gastric mucin whereas J18* failed to bind. Parasite or J18 binding to submaxillary mucin was negligible. HeLa cell invasion by metacyclic forms was not affected by gastric mucin but was inhibited in the presence of submaxillary mucin. Of peptides tested for inhibition of J18 binding to gastric mucin, the inhibitory peptide p7 markedly reduced parasite invasion of HeLa cells in the presence of gastric mucin. Peptide p7*, with the same composition as p7 but with a scrambled sequence, had no effect. Mice fed with peptide p7 before oral infection with metacyclic forms developed lower parasitemias than mice fed with peptide p7*. Our results indicate that selective binding of gp82 to gastric mucin may direct T. cruzi metacyclic trypomastigotes to stomach mucosal epithelium in oral infection. 相似文献
3.
Mitochondrial DNA and bindin gene sequence evolution among allopatric species of the sea urchin genus Arbacia 总被引:3,自引:1,他引:2
Sea urchins of the genus Arbacia (order Stirodonta) have discontinuous
allopatric distributions ranging over thousands of kilometers.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences were used to reconstruct phylogenetic
relationships of four Arbacia species and their geographic populations.
There is little evidence of genetic structuring of populations within
species, except in two cases at range extremes. The mtDNA sequence
differentiation between species suggests that divergence occurred about 4-9
MYA. Gene sequences encoding the sperm protein bindin and its intron were
obtained and compared with the mtDNA phylogeny. Sea urchins among the
well-studied echinoid order Camarodonta, with degrees of mtDNA divergence
similar to those of Arbacia species, are known to have remarkable variation
in bindin. However, in Arbacia, little variation in deduced amino acid
sequences of bindin was found, indicating that purifying selection acts on
the protein. In contrast, bindin intron sequences showed much
differentiation, including numerous insertion/deletions. Fertilization
experiments performed between a divergent pair of Arbacia species from the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans revealed no evidence of blocks to gamete
recognition. In Arbacia, fertilization specificities may have evolved
relatively slowly as a result of extensive gene flow within species,
greater functional constraint on the bindin polypeptide, or reduced
selective pressure for species recognition in singly occurring species.
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4.
Females of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus differ in the structures of their egg jelly sulfated fucans 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
The egg jelly coats of sea urchins contain sulfated fucans which bind to a
sperm surface receptor glycoprotein to initiate the signal transduction
events resulting in the sperm acrosome reaction. The acrosome reaction is
an ion channel regulated exocytosis which is an obligatory event for sperm
binding to, and fusion with, the egg. Approximately 90% of individual
females of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus spawned eggs having
only one of two possible sulfated fucan electrophoretic isotypes, a slow
migrating (sulfated fucan I), or a fast migrating (sulfated fucan II)
isotype. The remaining 10% of females spawned eggs having both sulfated
fucan isotypes. The two sulfated fucan isotypes were purified from egg
jelly coats and their structures determined by NMR spectroscopy and
methylation analysis. Both sulfated fucans are linear polysaccharides
composed of 1-->3-linked alpha-L-fucopyranosyl units. Sulfated fucan I
is entirely sulfated at the O -2 position but with a heterogeneous
sulfation pattern at O -4 position. Sulfated fucan II is composed of a
regular repeating sequence of 3 residues, as follows: [3-alpha-L-Fuc p -
2,4(OSO3)-1-->3-alpha-L-Fuc p -4(OSO3)-1-->3-alpha-L-Fuc p -4(OSO3)-
1]n. Both purified sulfated fucans have approximately equal potency in
inducing the sperm acrosome reaction. The significance of two structurally
different sulfated fucans in the egg jelly coat of this species could
relate to the finding that the sperm receptor protein which binds sulfated
fucan contains two carbohydrate recognition modules of the C-type lectin
variety which differ by 50% in their primary structure.
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5.
6.
Huafang Shi Rebecca L. Barnes Nicholas Carriero Vanessa D. Atayde Christian Tschudi Elisabetta Ullu 《Eukaryotic cell》2014,13(1):77-86
Parasitic protozoa of the flagellate order Kinetoplastida represent one of the deepest branches of the eukaryotic tree. Among this group of organisms, the mechanism of RNA interference (RNAi) has been investigated in Trypanosoma brucei and to a lesser degree in Leishmania (Viannia) spp. The pathway is triggered by long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and in T. brucei requires a set of five core genes, including a single Argonaute (AGO) protein, T. brucei AGO1 (TbAGO1). The five genes are conserved in Leishmania (Viannia) spp. but are absent in other major kinetoplastid species, such as Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania major. In T. brucei small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are methylated at the 3′ end, whereas Leishmania (Viannia) sp. siRNAs are not. Here we report that T. brucei HEN1, an ortholog of the metazoan HEN1 2′-O-methyltransferases, is required for methylation of siRNAs. Loss of TbHEN1 causes a reduction in the length of siRNAs. The shorter siRNAs in hen1−/− parasites are single stranded and associated with TbAGO1, and a subset carry a nontemplated uridine at the 3′ end. These findings support a model wherein TbHEN1 methylates siRNA 3′ ends after they are loaded into TbAGO1 and this methylation protects siRNAs from uridylation and 3′ trimming. Moreover, expression of TbHEN1 in Leishmania (Viannia) panamensis did not result in siRNA 3′ end methylation, further emphasizing mechanistic differences in the trypanosome and Leishmania RNAi mechanisms. 相似文献
7.
8.
The target cell F-actin disassembly, induced by a Ca2+-signaling Trypanosoma cruzi factor of unknown molecular identity, has been reported to promote parasite invasion. We investigated whether the metacyclic trypomastigote stage-specific surface molecule gp82, a Ca2+-signal-inducing molecule implicated in host cell invasion, displayed the ability to induce actin cytoskeleton disruption, using a recombinant protein (J18) containing the full-length gp82 sequence fused to GST. J18, but not GST, induced F-actin disassembly in HeLa cells, significantly reducing the number as well as the length of stress fibers. The number of cells with typical stress fibers scored approximately 70% in untreated and GST-treated cells, as opposed to approximately 30% in J18-treated samples, which also showed decreased F-actin content. J18, but not GST, inhibited approximately 6-fold the HeLa cell entry of enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC), which depends on actin cytoskeleton. Not only were fewer cells infected with bacteria in the presence of J18, there were also fewer bacteria per cell. The inhibitory activity of J18 was Ca2+ dependent. In co-infection experiments, preincubation of HeLa cells with EIEC drastically reduced gp82-dependent internalization of T. cruzi metacyclic forms. All these data, plus the finding that gp82-mediated penetration of metacyclic forms was associated with disrupted HeLa cell cytoskeletal architecture, indicate that gp82 promotes parasite invasion by disassembling the cortical actin cytoskeleton. 相似文献
9.
Pozzatti P Scheid LA Spader TB Atayde ML Santurio JM Alves SH 《Canadian journal of microbiology》2008,54(11):950-956
In the present study, the antifungal activity of selected essential oils obtained from plants used as spices was evaluated against both fluconazole-resistant and fluconazole-susceptible Candida spp. The Candida species studied were Candida albicans, Candida dubliniensis, Candida tropicalis, Candida glabrata, and Candida krusei. For comparison purposes, they were arranged in groups as C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, and Candida non-albicans. The essential oils were obtained from Cinnamomum zeylanicum Breyn, Lippia graveolens HBK, Ocimum basilicum L., Origanum vulgare L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., Salvia officinalis L., Thymus vulgaris L., and Zingiber officinale. The susceptibility tests were based on the M27-A2 methodology. The chemical composition of the essential oils was obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy and by retention indices. The results showed that cinnamon, Mexican oregano, oregano, thyme, and ginger essential oils have different levels of antifungal activity. Oregano and ginger essential oils were found to be the most and the least efficient, respectively. The main finding was that the susceptibilities of fluconazole-resistant C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, and Candida non-albicans to Mexican oregano, oregano, thyme, and ginger essential oils were higher than those of the fluconazole-susceptible yeasts (P<0.05). In contrast, fluconazole-resistant C. albicans and Candida non-albicans were less susceptible to cinnamon essential oil than their fluconazole-susceptible counterparts (P<0.05). A relationship between the yeasts' susceptibilities and the chemical composition of the essential oils studied was apparent when these 2 parameters were compared. Finally, basil, rosemary, and sage essential oils did not show antifungal activity against Candida isolates at the tested concentrations. 相似文献
10.