Analysis of the genomic organisation of a small chromosome of Leishmania braziliensis M2903 reveals two genes encoding GTP-binding proteins, one of which belongs to a new G-protein family and is an antigen.
Leishmania braziliensis M2903 contains a highly amplified small chromosome. This work is aimed at resolving its structural organization and determining whether this unusual chromosome contains specific genes encoding proteins with important functions in disease pathology or drug resistance. Our results show that the M2903 250-kb small chromosome contains LD1 sequences and has an inverted repeat structure. The LD1 sequences and two cDNAs (cDNA2 and cDNA53) were mapped on a cosmid contig, and the two cDNAs and the corresponding genomic fragments from the small chromosome were sequenced. The gene encoding cDNA2 predicts a putative GTP-binding protein with homology to other GTP-binding proteins only in the G-1 domain region; however, four other conserved motifs can be recognized. Sequence similarity to cDNA53 is located in at least five chromosomes, and its small chromosome copy is a pseudogene. An open reading frame downstream of the cDNA53 pseudogene predicts another GTP-binding protein that belongs to a new G-protein family with an unusual conserved GTP-binding domain and a newly characterized conserved sequence motif. A portion of this GTP-binding protein gene was studied previously in L. aethiopica as a recombinant antigen that reacts with human antibodies.
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MRC Outstation of NIMR, Molteno Laboratories, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Melville
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Brewster
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Warner
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Barker
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D002875:Chromosomes; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007892:Leishmania braziliensis / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015800:Protozoan Proteins
D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C112267:lgp1 protein, Leishmania braziliensis; C112268:lgp2 protein, Leishmania braziliensis; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins