Post genomic analysis of permeases from the amino acid/auxin family in protozoan parasites.
The "amino acid/auxin permeases" is probably the most represented family of transporters in the Trypanosoma cruzi genome. Using a high-throughput searching routine and preliminary data from the T. cruzi genome project, more than 15,000 sequences were iteratively assembled into contigs, and 60 open reading frames corresponding to different putative amino acid transporters, clustered in 12 groups, were detected and characterized in silico. T. cruzi genomic organization of such sequences showed that these putative amino acid transporter genes are in an unusually large number and arranged in repeat clusters comprising about 0.2% of the genome. These data suggest that the family has evolved following tandem duplication events and constitutes a novel family of variable proteins in protozoan organisms. The mRNA expression of the predicted genes was demonstrated in infective and non-infective parasite forms. Orthologous sequences were also identified in other unicellular parasites such as Leishmania spp., Plasmodium spp., and Trypanosoma brucei.
Bouvier
León A
LA
Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas Alfredo Lanari, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Silber
Ariel M
AM
Galvão Lopes
Camila
C
Canepa
Gaspar E
GE
Miranda
Mariana R
MR
Tonelli
Renata R
RR
Colli
Walter
W
Alves
Maria Júlia M
MJ
Pereira
Claudio A
CA
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D020440:Gene Duplication; D016678:Genome; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*
D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger