Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T15:50:59.250Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Schistosoma mansoni: adult males and females differentially express antigens encoded by repetitive genomic DNA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

A. L. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QP
M. C. Huggins
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QP
J. C. Havercroft
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QP

Extract

Two repetitive DNA sequences have been characterized from Schistosoma mansoni which were transcribed into mRNAs and translated to give two families of cross-reactive proteins. One DNA element, which was present as a 230 bp Pst I fragment was arranged in tandem arrays of at least 17 copies in the genome. The second element, which could be localized to a 1800 bp Pst I fragment, was dispersed in the genome. The 1800 bp repeat was found on the mRNA encoding the 45 kDa polypeptide precursor of a potential surface antigen. This precursor was post-translationally modified to give a 50 kDa antigen (Sm50) which was expressed from the cercaria to the adult worm and in the egg. However, a proportion of this antigen was differentially modified in females and eggs to give a 60 kDa form. Two copies of the 230 bp repeat and one copy of the 1800 bp repeat were found on a second cDNA clone. The antiserum raised against the fusion protein of this clone recognized a family of cross-reactive proteins ranging from 14 to 70 kDa in size. The members of this family were also differentially expressed between the sexes. Consequently, two families of antigens have been identified which were both encoded by repetitive DNA elements and whose members were both differentially expressed in adult male and female worms.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Davis, R. E., Davis, A. H., Carroll, S. M., Rajkovic, A. & Rottman, F. M. (1988). Tandemly repeated exons encode 81-base repeats in multiple, developmentally regulated Schistosoma mansoni transcripts. Molecular and Cellular Biology 8, 4745–55.Google ScholarPubMed
Doenhoff, M. J., Pearson, S., Dunne, D. W., Bickle, Q., Lucas, S., Bain, J. & Hassounah, O. (1981). Immunological control of hepatotoxicity and parasite egg secretion in Schistosoma mansoni, infections: stage and species specificity of the reactive immune serum in T-cell deprived mice. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 75, 4153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gasser, R. B., Moraham, G. & Mitchell, G. F. (1991). Sexing single larval stages of Schistosoma mansoni by polymerase chain reaction. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 47, 255–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamburger, J., Turetski, T., Kapeller, I. & Deresiewic, R. (1991). Highly repeated short DNA sequences in the genome of Schistosoma mansoni recognised by a species-specific probe. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 44, 7380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Havercroft, J. C., Huggins, M. C., Nene, V., Dunne, D. W., Richardson, B. A., Taylor, D. W. & Butterworth, A. E. (1988). Cloning of the gene encoding a 50 kilodalton potential surface antigen of Schistosoma mansoni. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 30, 83–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Havercroft, J. C., Huggins, M. C., Dunne, D. W. & Taylor, D. W. (1990). Characterisation of Sm20, a 20-kilodalton calcium-binding protein of Schistosoma mansoni. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 38, 211–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Havercroft, J. C., Smith, A. L. & Williams, R. H. (1991). Schistosome mansoni: Immuno-localisation of the calcium binding protein Sm20. Parasite Immunology 13, 593604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E. F. & Maniatis, T. (1989). Molecular Cloning, a Laboratory Manual. 2nd Edn.Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.Google Scholar
Shank, P. R., Hughes, S. H., Kung, H. J., Majors, H. J., Quintrell, N., Guntaka, R. V., Bishop, J. M. & Varmus, H. E. (1978). Mapping unintegrated avain sarcoma virus: termini of linear DNA of 300 nucleotides present once or twice in two species of circular DNA. Cell 15, 1385–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simpson, A. J. G., Sher, A. & McCutchan, T. F. (1982). The genome of Schistosoma mansoni: Isolation of DNA, its sizes, bases and repetitive sequences. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 6, 125–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. B. & Johnson, K. S. (1988). Single step purification of polypeptides expressed in Escherichia coli as fusion proteins with glutathione-S-transferase. Gene 67, 3140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smithers, S. R. & Terry, R. J. (1965). The infection of laboratory hosts with cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni and the recover of adult worms. Parasitology 55, 695700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spotila, L. D., Rekosh, D. M., Boucher, J. M. & Loverde, P. T. (1987 a). A cloned DNA probe identifies the sex of Schistosoma mansoni cercariae. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 26, 1720.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spotila, L. D., Loverde, P. T. & Rekosh, D. M., (1987 b). Analysis of two repeated DNA sequences of Schistosoma mansoni. In Molecular Paradigms for Eradicating Helminthic Parasites (ed. Maclnnis, A. J.), pp. 159168. New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc.Google Scholar
Spotila, L. D., Rekosh, D. M. & Loverde, P. T. (1991). Polymorphic repeated DNA element in the genome of Schistosoma mansoni. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 48, 117–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, T. K., Rollinson, D. & Simpson, A. J. G. (1989). A DNA probe from Schistosoma mansoni allows rapid determination of the sex of larval parasites. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 33, 93100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webster, P., Mansour, T. E. & Bieber, D. (1989). Isolation of a female-specific, highly repeated Schistosoma mansoni DNA probe and its use in an assay of cercarial sex. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 36, 217–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar