title: Cuticle collagen genes of Haemonchus contortus and Caenorhabditis elegans are highly conserved.
abstract: Several genes and partial cDNAs encoding cuticle collagens have been isolated from the sheep parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus. DNA sequencing and Southern blot hybridization studies reveal that H. contortus collagens comprise a large family of related, but non-identical genes. The genes appear to be dispersed throughout the genome. The predominant size of collagen mRNA in molting worms was found to be between 1.0 and 1.2 kb. The one complete gene that was sequenced contains two short introns and encodes a protein of about 300 amino acids. The predicted protein sequence contain several (Gly-X-Y)n triple helix-coding domains that are interrupted by short stretches of non-helix-coding amino acids. The size of the predicted protein and the organization of the triple-helix coding domains are similar to that of Caenorhabditis elegans collagens. All the H. contortus genes studied show a striking homology to the C. elegans collagen gene subfamily represented by col-1. In particular, the amino acid sequence of the carboxy-terminal non-(Gly-X-Y)n region and the positions of cysteine residues flanking the (Gly-X-Y)n domains were found to be highly conserved in the collagens of these two nematodes.
authors.affiliation: Synergen, Inc., Boulder, CO 80301.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Shamansky
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Boisvenue
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Cox
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics*; D003094:Collagen / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA; D005796:Genes; D006189:Haemonchus / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012756:Sheep; D014251:Trichostrongyloidea / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen; D004247:DNA