title: Cloning of a trypanosomatid gene coding for an ornithine decarboxylase that is metabolically unstable even though it lacks the C-terminal degradation domain.
abstract: Mammalian ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) is among the most labile of cellular proteins, with a half-life of usually less than an hour. Like other short-lived proteins ODC is degraded by the 26S proteasome. Its degradation is not triggered by ubiquitination, but is stimulated by the binding of an inducible protein, antizyme. Truncations and mutations in the C terminus of mammalian ODC have been shown to prevent the rapid turnover of the enzyme, demonstrating the presence of a degradation signal in this region. Moreover, ODCs from the trypanosomatid parasites Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania donovani, which lack this C-terminal domain, are metabolically stable, and recombination of T. brucei ODC with the C terminus of mammalian ODC confers a short half-life to the fusion protein when expressed in mammalian cells. In the present study we have cloned and sequenced the ODC gene from the trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata. To our knowledge, this is the first protozoan shown to have an ODC with a rapid turnover. The sequence analysis revealed a high homology between C. fasciculata ODC and L. donovani ODC, despite the difference in stability. We demonstrate that C. fasciculata ODC has a very rapid turnover even when expressed in mammalian cells. Moreover, ODC from C. fasciculata is shown to lack the C-terminal degradation domain of mammalian ODC. Our findings indicate that C. fasciculata ODC contains unique signals, targeting the enzyme for rapid degradation not only in the parasite but also in mammalian cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ceriani
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Wallström
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kockum
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Algranati
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Heby
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Persson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D019556:COS Cells; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016831:Crithidia fasciculata / Q000201:enzymology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase