Acanthamoeba healyi: expressed gene profiles with enhanced virulence after mouse-brain passage.
The virulence of Acanthamoeba can be attenuated by long-term in vitro cultivation, and can be recovered by serial mouse-brain passage via intranasal inoculation. Recovery is concomitant with changes in expression of virulence-related genes. To investigate the virulence factors of Acanthamoeba, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from two kinds of cDNA libraries-long-term in vitro cultivated A. healyi (OLD) and three times mouse-brain passaged A. healyi (MBP)-were compared using reciprocal BLAST analysis, eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOG) assignment, and gene annotation. A total of 938 (OLD) and 1033 (MBP) ESTs were sequenced and resulted in the assembling of 718 OLD and 833 MBP unique sequences. Comparison of the KOG analysis revealed a relatively higher percentage of MBP ESTs in genes related to transcription (K group), amino acid transport and metabolism (E group), coenzyme transport and metabolism (H group), and secondary metabolites biosynthesis, transport and metabolism (Q group). However, a higher percentage of unidentified MBP ESTs (57.9%) than OLD ESTs (28.9%) was evidence of the limited understanding of virulence-related factors of Acanthamoeba. Characterization of the genes expressed during brain passage in mice will be useful in clarifying the pathogenesis of granulomatous amoebic encephalitis by Acanthamoeba.
Xuan
Ying-Hua
YH
Department of Parasitology, Kyungpook National University, School of Medicine, Taegu 700-422, Republic of Korea.
Hong
Yeon-Chul
YC
Lee
Yong-Seok
YS
Kang
Se-Won
SW
Yu
Hak-Sun
HS
Ahn
Tae-In
TI
Chung
Dong-Il
DI
Kong
Hyun-Hee
HH
D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000469:parasitology*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015723:Gene Library; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D012692:Serial Passage; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
D018076:DNA, Complementary