title: Protein interactions within the TcZFP zinc finger family members of Trypanosoma cruzi: implications for their functions.
abstract: The small zinc finger proteins tbZFP1 and tbZFP2 have been implicated in the control of Trypanosoma brucei differentiation to the procyclic form. Here, we report that the complete ZFP family in Trypanosoma cruzi is composed by four members, ZFP1A and B, and ZFP2A and B. ZFP1B is a paralog specific gene restricted to T. cruzi, while the ZFP2A and B paralogs diverged prior to the trypanosomatid lineage separation. Moreover, we demonstrate that TcZFP1 and TcZFP2 members interact with each other and that this interaction is mediated by a WW domain in TcZFP2. Also, TcZFP2B strongly homodimerizes by a glycine rich region absent in TcZFP2A. We propose a model to discuss the relevance of these protein-protein interactions in terms of the functions of these proteins.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biología Molecular de la Enfermedad de Chagas-INGEBI-CONICET, Departamento de Fisiología y Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caro
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bercovich
authors.forename: Catalina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Atorrasagasti
authors.forename: Mariano J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.forename: Martín P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Vázquez
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D019281:Dimerization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000378:metabolism*; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D015800:Protozoan Proteins