Characterization of genes with a putative key role in the parasitic lifestyle of the nematode Strongyloides ratti.
Parasitic nematodes are significant pathogens of humans and other animals. The molecular and genetic basis of animal parasitism is not yet fully understood. Strongyloides spp. are a genus of gastrointestinal nematodes of which species infect approximately 100–200 million people worldwide. S. ratti is a natural parasite of the rat, and a useful and amenable laboratory model. Previous EST and microarray analyses of the S. ratti life cycle have identified genes whose expression was specific, or biased, to the parasitic adult stage, suggesting that they may play a key role in parasitism in this species. Here we have further investigated the expression of these genes (by RT-PCR) throughout the S. ratti life-cycle. We produced recombinant proteins in vitro for a subset of these genes, which were used in Western blot analyses to investigate the distribution of the gene products among different stages of the S. ratti life cycle. We tested the efficacy of these recombinant proteins as anti-S. ratti vaccines. One of the proteins was detected in the excretory/secretory products of the parasitic stages.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK.
W G
WG
Spinner
F J
FJ
Thompson
D C
DC
Emery
M E
ME
Viney
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000909:Antibodies, Helminth / Q000097:blood; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017170:Strongyloides ratti / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D013322:Strongyloidiasis / Q000517:prevention & control; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology
D000909:Antibodies, Helminth; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic