title: Identification and characterization of a novel fushi tarazu factor 1 (FTZ-F1) nuclear receptor in Schistosoma mansoni.
abstract: Fushi-tarazu factor-1 (FTZ-F1) is an orphan nuclear receptor involved in gene regulation of various developmental processes and physiological activities. We identified a new member of ftz-f1 gene in Schistosoma mansoni, termed Smftz-f1alpha. The Smftz-f1alpha gene has a complex structure with 15 exons interrupted by 14 introns. It encodes an unusually long SmFTZ-F1alpha protein of 1892 amino acids containing all the modular domains found in nuclear receptors. The DNA-binding domain (DBD) of SmFTZ-F1alpha is conserved and most similar to those of human and mouse FTZ-F1 orthologues, exhibiting a 76% identity. The ligand-binding domain (LBD) is less conserved than the DBD; it shares more diverse identity scores in different regions ranging from 23% to 42% in region II and 28% to 72% in region III. A conserved activation function-2 (AF-2) sequence is present in the SmFTZ-F1alpha LBD. This protein also contains a long hinge region (1027 aa) and an F region (220 aa) at the carboxyl end. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that SmFTZ-F1alpha is the orthologue of Drosophila FTZ-F1alpha and vertebrate NR5 members. Western blot analysis of a schistosome extract identified two proteins, one with a size (206 kDa) predicted by the SmFTZ-F1alpha cDNA sequence and a smaller component of 120 kDa. Smftz-f1alpha is expressed throughout the schistosome life cycle with the highest expression in the egg stage. SmFTZ-F1alpha mRNA is widely distributed in adult worms but does not appear in vitelline cells of female worms. SmFTZ-F1alpha localizes to a variety of tissues but is most abundant in the testis of the male and the ovary of female worms. Our results suggest that SmFTZ-F1alpha plays a role in regulating schistosome development and sexual differentiation similar to other FTZ-F1 family members.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Research, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA.
authors.forename: Changxue
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Edward G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Niles
authors.forename: Philip T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: LoVerde
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D051717:Fushi Tarazu Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015723:Gene Library; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007438:Introns; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010802:Phylogeny; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D051717:Fushi Tarazu Transcription Factors; D015801:Helminth Proteins