title: Identification and characterization of six novel tetraspanins from Schistosoma japonicum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tetraspanins (TSPs), also known as members of the trans-membrane 4 super-family (TM4SF), comprise an assemblage of surface antigens reported in eukaryotic organisms. In the work presented here, six novel TSP proteins from the human blood fluke Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) were produced and analyzed through a combination of bioinformatics and experimental approaches.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six novel TSP proteins of Schistosoma japonicum (designated as Sj-TSP-#1~6) contained four trans-membrane regions and one large extracellular loop (LEL) with a conserved CCG motif. Size of the proteins varied from 227 to 291 amino acid residues. All the six proteins were produced in E.coli and immune sera to each protein were prepared. Analysis of transcription profiles of the proteins by RT-PCR showed that Sj-TSP-#4 was transcribed only in the egg stage while transcription of the Sj-TSP-#2 was detected in female worms but not in males. The similar results were obtained by Western blot. Immunolocalization of the TSP proteins by immunofluorescence assay showed that the Sj-TSP-#2, Sj-TSP-#5 and Sj-TSP-#6 were located in the tegument of worms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provided six novel TSP members of S. japonicum including their sequences and recombinant proteins. Availability of the novel proteins and information on their expression profile and location provided a basis for further investigation of the TSP proteins for their biological functions and as vaccine candidates.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Infectious Diseases & Vaccine Development, Tongji University School of Medicine, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Xindong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiaoxing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qing
authors.forename: Weiqing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D021381:Protein Transport; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D012554:Schistosomiasis japonica / Q000469:parasitology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013045:Species Specificity; D059470:Tetraspanins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015801:Helminth Proteins; D059470:Tetraspanins