title: Exploring and Expanding the Fatty-Acid-Binding Protein Superfamily in Fasciola Species.
abstract: The liver flukes Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica infect livestock worldwide and threaten food security with climate change and problematic control measures spreading disease. Fascioliasis is also a foodborne disease with up to 17 million humans infected. In the absence of vaccines, treatment depends on triclabendazole (TCBZ), and overuse has led to widespread resistance, compromising future TCBZ control. Reductionist biology from many laboratories has predicted new therapeutic targets. To this end, the fatty-acid-binding protein (FABP) superfamily has proposed multifunctional roles, including functions intersecting vaccine and drug therapy, such as immune modulation and anthelmintic sequestration. Research is hindered by a lack of understanding of the full FABP superfamily complement. Although discovery studies predicted FABPs as promising vaccine candidates, it is unclear if uncharacterized FABPs are more relevant for vaccine formulations. We have coupled genome, transcriptome, and EST data mining with proteomics and phylogenetics to reveal a liver fluke FABP superfamily of seven clades: previously identified clades I-III and newly identified clades IV-VII. All new clade FABPs were analyzed using bioinformatics and cloned from both liver flukes. The extended FABP data set will provide new study tools to research the role of FABPs in parasite biology and as therapy targets.
authors: Aberystwyth University , Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth SY23 3DA, United Kingdom.
authors: Russell M
authors: RM
authors: Morphew
authors: Aberystwyth University , Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth SY23 3DA, United Kingdom.
authors: Toby J
authors: TJ
authors: Wilkinson
authors: Aberystwyth University , Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth SY23 3DA, United Kingdom.
authors: Neil
authors: N
authors: Mackintosh
authors: University of Leipzig , Institute of Biochemistry, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Veronika
authors: V
authors: Jahndel
authors: University of Liverpool , School of Biological Sciences, Liverpool L69 7ZB, United Kingdom.
authors: Steve
authors: S
authors: Paterson
authors: Queen's University Belfast , School of Biological Sciences, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom.
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: McVeigh
authors: Aligarh Muslim University , Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh 202002, India.
authors: Syed M
authors: SM
authors: Abbas Abidi
authors: Aligarh Muslim University , Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh 202002, India.
authors: Khalid
authors: K
authors: Saifullah
authors: Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University , Chennai 600-051, India.
authors: Muthusamy
authors: M
authors: Raman
authors: Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University , Chennai 600-051, India.
authors: Gopalakrishnan
authors: G
authors: Ravikumar
authors: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine , Liverpool L3 5QA, United Kingdom.
authors: James
authors: J
authors: LaCourse
authors: Queen's University Belfast , School of Biological Sciences, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom.
authors: Aaron
authors: A
authors: Maule
authors: Aberystwyth University , Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth SY23 3DA, United Kingdom.
authors: Peter M
authors: PM
authors: Brophy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D057225:Data Mining; D005209:Fasciola / Q000737:chemistry*; D005213:Fascioloidiasis / Q000188:drug therapy; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010802:Phylogeny; D040901:Proteomics
chemical_list: D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins
keywords: F. gigantica; Fasciola hepatica; diagnosis; gene characterization; proteomics