scholarly journals An Experimental Approach for the Identification of Conserved Secreted Proteins in Trypanosomatids

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa M. Corrales ◽  
Françoise Mathieu-Daudé ◽  
Déborah Garcia ◽  
Simone F. Brenière ◽  
Denis Sereno

Extracellular factors produced byLeishmania spp., Trypanosoma cruzi,andTrypanosoma bruceiare important in the host-parasite relationship. Here, we describe a genome-based approach to identify putative extracellular proteins conserved among trypanosomatids that are likely involved in the classical secretory pathway. Potentially secreted proteins were identified by bioinformatic analysis of theT. cruzigenome. A subset of thirteen genes encoding unknown proteins with orthologs containing a signal peptide sequence inL. infantum, L. major,andT. bruceiwere transfected intoL. infantum. Tagged proteins detected in the extracellular medium confirmed computer predictions in about 25% of the hits. Secretion was confirmed for twoL. infantumorthologs proteins using the same experimental system. Infectivity studies of transgenicLeishmaniaparasites suggest that one of the secreted proteins increases parasite replication inside macrophages. This methodology can identify conserved secreted proteins involved in the classical secretory pathway, and they may represent potential virulence factors in trypanosomatids.

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 590-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanquan Zhang ◽  
Guozheng Qin ◽  
Boqiang Li ◽  
Shiping Tian

Pathogenic fungi usually secrete a series of virulence factors to the extracellular environment to facilitate infection. Rab GTPases play a central role in the secretory pathway. To explore the function of Rab/GTPase in filamentous fungi, we knocked out a Rab/GTPase family gene, Bcsas1, in Botrytis cinerea, an aggressive fungal pathogen that infects more than 200 plant species. A detailed analysis was conducted on the virulence and the secretory capability of the mutants. The results indicated that knockout of Bcsas1 inhibited hyphal development and reduced sporulation of B. cinerea on potato dextrose agar plates resulting in reduced virulence on various fruit hosts. Knocking out the Bcsas1 gene led to an accumulation of transport vesicles at the hyphal tip, significantly reduced extracellular protein content, and lowered the activity of polygalacturonase and xylanase in the extracellular medium. However, mutation of Bcsas1 did not affect the expression of genes encoding polygalacturonase and xylanase, suggesting the secretion of these two family enzymes was suppressed in the mutant. Moreover, a comparative analysis of the secretome provided further evidence that the disruption of Bcsas1 in mutant strains significantly depressed the secretion of polysaccharide hydrolases and proteases. The results indicate that Bcsas1, the Rab8/SEC4-like gene, plays a crucial role in development, protein secretion, and virulence of B. cinerea.


1976 ◽  
Vol 156 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Harwood ◽  
M E Grant ◽  
D S Jackson

I. Embryonic-chick tendon cells were pulse-labelled for 4 min with [14C]proline and the 14C-labelled polypeptides were chased with unlabelled proline for up to 30 min. Isolation of subcellular fractions during the chase period and their subsequent analysis for bacterial collagenase-susceptible 14C-labelled peptides demonstrated the transfer of procollagen polypeptides from rough to smooth microsomal fractions and thence to the extracellular medium. Parallel analyses of Golgi-enriched fractions indicated the involvement of this organelle in the secretory pathway of procollagen. Sodium dodecylsulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of the 14C-labelled polypeptides present in the Golgi-enriched fractions demonstrated that the procollagen polypeptides were all present as disulphide-linked pro-gamma components. 2. When similar kinetic studies of the intracellular transport of procollagen were conducted with embryonic-chick cartilage cells almost identical results were obtained, but the rate of translocation of cartilage procollagen was significantly slower than that observed for tendon procollagen. 3. When hydroxylation of procollagen polypeptides was inhibited by alphaalpha′-bipyridyl, the nascent polypeptides accumulated in the rough microsomal fraction. 4. When cells were pulse-labelled for 4min with [14C)proline and the label was chased in the presence of colchicine, secretion of procollagen was inhibited and an intracellular accumulation of procollagen 14C-labelled polypeptides was observed in the Golgi-enriched fractions. 5. The energy-dependence of the intracellular transport of procollagen was demonstrated in experiments in which antimycin A was found to inhibit the transfer of procollagen polypeptides from rough to smooth endoplasmic reticulum. 6. It is concluded that procollagen follows the classical route of secretion taken by other extracellular proteins.


Development ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 107 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. 161-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. McMahon ◽  
Randall T. Moon

The int-1 gene was originally identified as a locus activated by mouse mammary tumor virus insertion. Cloning and sequencing of the mouse gene indicates that int-1 encodes a 41K, 370 amino acid, cysteine-rich protein with a potential hydrophobic signal peptide sequence. Expression studies clearly indicate that int-1 enters the secretory pathway and is probably secreted, although definitive evidence is lacking. Drosophila int-1 encodes the wingless gene, wingless, a segment-polarity gene, is required for the establishment of normal pattern in each segment. Genetic studies indicate that the wingless protein is probably secreted since it is required for the maintenance of stable gene expression in neighboring cells. int-1 is also expressed during early neural stages of frog and mouse development. In the mouse, where expression is well characterized, int-1 RNA is restricted to the dorsal midline of the neural tube. By analogy with Drosophila, int-1 may operate to specify position within this structure. To test this idea, we have interfered with normal int-1 expression by injection of int-1 RNA into frog embryos. This results in a striking and specific aberration, bifurcation of the anterior neural tube. Thus, it seems possible that in vertebrates int-1 is able to influence patterning events.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Binbin Chen ◽  
Bryan Zong Lin Loo ◽  
Ying Ying Cheng ◽  
Peng Song ◽  
Huan Fan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Proteases catalyze the hydrolysis of peptide bonds of proteins, thereby improving dietary protein digestibility, nutrient availability, as well as flavor and texture of fermented food and feed products. The lactobacilli Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (formerly Lactobacillus plantarum) and Pediococcus acidilactici are widely used in food and feed fermentations due to their broad metabolic capabilities and safe use. However, extracellular protease activity in these two species is low. Here, we optimized protease expression and secretion in L. plantarum and P. acidilactici via a genetic engineering strategy. Results To this end, we first developed a versatile and stable plasmid, pUC256E, which can propagate in both L. plantarum and P. acidilactici. We then confirmed expression and secretion of protease PepG1 as a functional enzyme in both strains with the aid of the previously described L. plantarum-derived signal peptide LP_0373. To further increase secretion of PepG1, we carried out a genome-wide experimental screening of signal peptide functionality. A total of 155 predicted signal peptides originating from L. plantarum and 110 predicted signal peptides from P. acidilactici were expressed and screened for extracellular proteolytic activity in the two different strains, respectively. We identified 12 L. plantarum signal peptides and eight P. acidilactici signal peptides that resulted in improved yield of secreted PepG1. No significant correlation was found between signal peptide sequence properties and its performance with PepG1. Conclusion The vector developed here provides a powerful tool for rapid experimental screening of signal peptides in both L. plantarum and P. acidilactici. Moreover, the set of novel signal peptides identified was widely distributed across strains of the same species and even across some closely related species. This indicates their potential applicability also for the secretion of other proteins of interest in other L. plantarum or P. acidilactici host strains. Our findings demonstrate that screening a library of homologous signal peptides is an attractive strategy to identify the optimal signal peptide for the target protein, resulting in improved protein export.


2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 1237-1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Ignatova ◽  
A. Mahsunah ◽  
M. Georgieva ◽  
V. Kasche

ABSTRACT Using periplasmic penicillin amidase (PA) from Escherichia coli ATCC 11105 as a model recombinant protein, we reviewed the posttranslational bottlenecks in its overexpression and undertook attempts to enhance its production in different recombinant E. coli expression hosts. Intracellular proteolytic degradation of the newly synthesized PA precursor and translocation through the plasma membrane were determined to be the main posttranslational processes limiting enzyme production. Rate constants for both intracellular proteolytic breakdown (kd ) and transport (kt ) were used as quantitative tools for selection of the appropriate host system and cultivation medium. The production of mature active PA was increased up to 10-fold when the protease-deficient strain E. coli BL21(DE3) was cultivated in medium without a proteinaceous substrate, as confirmed by a decrease in the sum of the constants kd and kt . The original signal sequence of pre-pro-PA was exchanged with the OmpT signal peptide sequence in order to increase translocation efficiency; the effects of this change varied in the different E. coli host strains. Furthermore, we established that simultaneous coexpression of the OmpT pac gene with some proteins of the Sec export machinery of the cell resulted in up to threefold-enhanced PA production. In parallel, we made efforts to increase PA flux via coexpression with the kil gene (killing protein). The primary effects of the kil gene were the release of PA into the extracellular medium and an approximately threefold increase in the total amount of PA produced per liter of bacterial culture.


2020 ◽  
Vol 319 (1) ◽  
pp. G74-G86
Author(s):  
Junko Fujita-Yoshigaki ◽  
Megumi Yokoyama ◽  
Osamu Katsumata-Kato

The mechanism underlying the segregation of cargo proteins to the regulated and constitutive secretory pathways in exocrine cells remains to be solved. We analyzed unstimulated secretion in salivary acinar cells by performing double-labeling experiments using HaloTag technology and computer simulation. It revealed that the majority of HaloTag with only signal peptide sequence was secreted through the constitutive pathway and that the addition of a full-length cystatin D sequence changed its sorting to the regulated pathway.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 348
Author(s):  
Florian Tagini ◽  
Trestan Pillonel ◽  
Claire Bertelli ◽  
Katia Jaton ◽  
Gilbert Greub

The Mycobacterium kansasii species comprises six subtypes that were recently classified into six closely related species; Mycobacterium kansasii (formerly M. kansasii subtype 1), Mycobacterium persicum (subtype 2), Mycobacterium pseudokansasii (subtype 3), Mycobacterium ostraviense (subtype 4), Mycobacterium innocens (subtype 5) and Mycobacterium attenuatum (subtype 6). Together with Mycobacterium gastri, they form the M. kansasii complex. M. kansasii is the most frequent and most pathogenic species of the complex. M. persicum is classically associated with diseases in immunosuppressed patients, and the other species are mostly colonizers, and are only very rarely reported in ill patients. Comparative genomics was used to assess the genetic determinants leading to the pathogenicity of members of the M. kansasii complex. The genomes of 51 isolates collected from patients with and without disease were sequenced and compared with 24 publicly available genomes. The pathogenicity of each isolate was determined based on the clinical records or public metadata. A comparative genomic analysis showed that all M. persicum, M. ostraviense, M innocens and M. gastri isolates lacked the ESX-1-associated EspACD locus that is thought to play a crucial role in the pathogenicity of M. tuberculosis and other non-tuberculous mycobacteria. Furthermore, M. kansasii was the only species exhibiting a 25-Kb-large genomic island encoding for 17 type-VII secretion system-associated proteins. Finally, a genome-wide association analysis revealed that two consecutive genes encoding a hemerythrin-like protein and a nitroreductase-like protein were significantly associated with pathogenicity. These two genes may be involved in the resistance to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, a required mechanism for the intracellular survival of bacteria. Three non-pathogenic M. kansasii lacked these genes likely due to two distinct distributive conjugal transfers (DCTs) between M. attenuatum and M. kansasii, and one DCT between M. persicum and M. kansasii. To our knowledge, this is the first study linking DCT to reduced pathogenicity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Csanad Gurdon ◽  
Alexander Kozik ◽  
Rong Tao ◽  
Alexander Poulev ◽  
Isabel Armas ◽  
...  

Abstract Dietary flavonoids play an important role in human nutrition and health. Flavonoid biosynthesis genes have recently been identified in lettuce (Lactuca sativa); however, few mutants have been characterized. We now report the causative mutations in Green Super Lettuce (GSL), a natural light green mutant derived from red cultivar NAR; and GSL-Dark Green (GSL-DG), an olive-green natural derivative of GSL. GSL harbors CACTA 1 (LsC1), a 3.9-kb active nonautonomous CACTA superfamily transposon inserted in the 5′ untranslated region of anthocyanidin synthase (ANS), a gene coding for a key enzyme in anthocyanin biosynthesis. Both terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) of this transposon were intact, enabling somatic excision of the mobile element, which led to the restoration of ANS expression and the accumulation of red anthocyanins in sectors on otherwise green leaves. GSL-DG harbors CACTA 2 (LsC2), a 1.1-kb truncated copy of LsC1 that lacks one of the TIRs, rendering the transposon inactive. RNA-sequencing and reverse transcription quantitative PCR of NAR, GSL, and GSL-DG indicated the relative expression level of ANS was strongly influenced by the transposon insertions. Analysis of flavonoid content indicated leaf cyanidin levels correlated positively with ANS expression. Bioinformatic analysis of the cv Salinas lettuce reference genome led to the discovery and characterization of an LsC1 transposon family with a putative transposon copy number greater than 1,700. Homologs of tnpA and tnpD, the genes encoding two proteins necessary for activation of transposition of CACTA elements, were also identified in the lettuce genome.


Genetics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 159 (4) ◽  
pp. 1765-1778
Author(s):  
Gregory J Budziszewski ◽  
Sharon Potter Lewis ◽  
Lyn Wegrich Glover ◽  
Jennifer Reineke ◽  
Gary Jones ◽  
...  

Abstract We have undertaken a large-scale genetic screen to identify genes with a seedling-lethal mutant phenotype. From screening ~38,000 insertional mutant lines, we identified >500 seedling-lethal mutants, completed cosegregation analysis of the insertion and the lethal phenotype for >200 mutants, molecularly characterized 54 mutants, and provided a detailed description for 22 of them. Most of the seedling-lethal mutants seem to affect chloroplast function because they display altered pigmentation and affect genes encoding proteins predicted to have chloroplast localization. Although a high level of functional redundancy in Arabidopsis might be expected because 65% of genes are members of gene families, we found that 41% of the essential genes found in this study are members of Arabidopsis gene families. In addition, we isolated several interesting classes of mutants and genes. We found three mutants in the recently discovered nonmevalonate isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway and mutants disrupting genes similar to Tic40 and tatC, which are likely to be involved in chloroplast protein translocation. Finally, we directly compared T-DNA and Ac/Ds transposon mutagenesis methods in Arabidopsis on a genome scale. In each population, we found only about one-third of the insertion mutations cosegregated with a mutant phenotype.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 500
Author(s):  
Jeeyong Lee ◽  
Junhye Kwon ◽  
DaYeon Kim ◽  
Misun Park ◽  
KwangSeok Kim ◽  
...  

LARC patients were sorted according to their radio-responsiveness and patient-derived organoids were established from the respective cancer tissues. Expression profiles for each group were obtained using RNA-seq. Biological and bioinformatic analysis approaches were used in deciphering genes and pathways that participate in the radio-resistance of LARC. Thirty candidate genes encoding proteins involved in radio-responsiveness–related pathways, including the immune system, DNA repair and cell-cycle control, were identified. Interestingly, one of the candidate genes, cathepsin E (CTSE), exhibited differential methylation at the promoter region that was inversely correlated with the radio-resistance of patient-derived organoids, suggesting that methylation status could contribute to radio-responsiveness. On the basis of these results, we plan to pursue development of a gene chip for diagnosing the radio-responsiveness of LARC patients, with the hope that our efforts will ultimately improve the prognosis of LARC patients.


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