title: ShAR2beta, a divergent nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit from the blood fluke Schistosoma.
abstract: Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that mediate the fast actions of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Invertebrate nAChRs are of interest as they are targets of widely-selling insecticides and drugs that control nematode parasites. Here, we report the cloning of ShAR2beta, a candidate nAChR subunit from the blood fluke, Schistosoma haematobium, which is the third trematode nAChR subunit to be characterized. While ShAR2beta possesses key structural features common to all nAChRs, its amino acid sequence shares considerably low identity with those of insect, nematode and vertebrate nAChR subunits. In particular, the second transmembrane domain of ShAR2beta, which lines the ion channel, bears unusual amino acid residues which will likely give rise to a receptor with distinct functional properties. Phylogenetic analysis shows that ShAR2beta is a divergent nAChR subunit that may define a clade of trematode-specific subunits. We discuss our findings in the context of potentially exploiting this receptor as a target for controlling schistosome parasites.
authors.affiliation: The School of Biology, University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Bentley
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agnew
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D006224:Cricetinae; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D012548:Schistosoma haematobium / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D015801:Helminth Proteins; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic