title: Comparative analysis of apicomplexa and genomic diversity in eukaryotes.
abstract: The apicomplexans Plasmodium and Cryptosporidium have developed distinctive adaptations via lineage-specific gene loss and gene innovation in the process of diverging from a common parasitic ancestor. The two lineages have acquired distinct but overlapping sets of surface protein adhesion domains typical of animal proteins, but in no case do they share multidomain architectures identical to animals. Cryptosporidium, but not Plasmodium, possesses an animal-type O-linked glycosylation pathway, along with >30 predicted surface proteins having mucin-like segments. The two parasites have notable qualitative differences in conserved protein architectures associated with chromatin dynamics and transcription. Cryptosporidium shows considerable reduction in the number of introns and a concomitant loss of spliceosomal machinery components. We also describe additional molecular characteristics distinguishing Apicomplexa from other eukaryotes for which complete genome sequences are available.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Medical College and the Program in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis, Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University, New York, New York 10021, USA. tjt2001@med.cornell.edu
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Templeton
authors.forename: Lakshminarayan M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Iyer
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Anantharaman
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.forename: Juan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Abrahante
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.forename: Stephen L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Mitchell S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Abrahamsen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aravind
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016782:Apicomplexa / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002843:Chromatin; D003458:Cryptosporidium / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016678:Genome; D006031:Glycosylation; D007438:Introns; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D008565:Membrane Proteins