title: Blastocystis elongation factor-1alpha: genomic organization, taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships.
abstract: The elongation factor-1 alpha (EF-1alpha) is a highly conserved ubiquitous protein that is involved in translation and is desirable for use in phylogenetic studies on Blastocystis, an enigmatic intestinal parasite with a contentious taxonomic position. In the present study, a PCR product (BEalpha) that codes for a major part of the coding region of the EF-lalpha protein was amplified. Genome walking experiments together with cloning were implemented to elucidate the 5' and 3' ends of the EF-1alpha gene of the human isolate, Blastocystis hominis C. The genomic organization and the potential transcription factor binding sites of the 5' end of B. hominis C EF-1alpha were identified. A comparative study on the deduced amino acid sequences of BEalpha of 13 Blastocystis isolates from various hosts was done to evaluate the phylogenetic relationship among the species. A phylogenetic reconstruction analysis with other eukaryotic EF-1alpha sequences was carried out to trace the phylogenetic position of Blastocystis among eukaryotic organisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Armiugam
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jeyaseelan
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016776:Blastocystis Infections; D016845:Blastocystis hominis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D016386:Chromosome Walking; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1