title: Insights into the role of gp63-like proteins in lower trypanosomatids.
abstract: Any actual understanding of trypanosomatids in general requires a comprehensive analysis of the less-specialized species as thorough as our knowledge of the more specialized Leishmania and Trypanosoma. In this context, we have shown by antibody cross-reactivity that purified extracellular metallopeptidases from Phytomonas françai, Crithidia deanei (cured strain) and Crithidia guilhermei share common epitopes with the leishmanial gp63. Flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy analyses indicated the presence of gp63-like molecules on the cell surface of these lower trypanosomatids. Binding assays with explanted guts of Aedes aegypti incubated with purified gp63 and the pretreatment of trypanosomatids with anti-gp63 antibodies indicated that the gp63-like molecules are involved in the adhesive process of these trypanosomatids to the A. aegypti gut wall. In addition, our results indicate for the first time that the gp63-like molecule binds to a polypeptide of 50 kDa on the A. aegypti gut epithelium extract.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia Geral, Instituto de Microbiologia Prof. Paulo de Góes, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Masini d'Avila-Levy
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de Almeida Dias
authors.forename: Ana Cristina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Nogueira de Melo
authors.forename: Juliana Lopes
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Angela Hampshire
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: De Carvalho Santos Lopes
authors.forename: André Luis
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Souza Dos Santos
authors.forename: Alane Beatriz
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Vermelho
authors.forename: Marta Helena
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Branquinha
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D003421:Crithidia / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014351:Trypanosomatina / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases; C055146:glycoprotein gp63, Leishmania