INVESTIGADORES
FRANCHINI Gisela Raquel
artículos
Título:
Fatty acid-binding proteins in Echinococcus spp.: the family has grown
Autor/es:
PÓRFIDO, JORGE L.; HERZ, MICHAELA; KISS, FERENC; KAMENETZKY, LAURA; BREHM, KLAUS; ROSENZVIT, MARA C.; CÓRSICO, BETINA; FRANCHINI, GISELA R.
Revista:
PARASITOLOGY RESEARCH
Editorial:
SPRINGER
Referencias:
Año: 2020 vol. 119 p. 1401 - 1408
ISSN:
0932-0113
Resumen:
Fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) are small intracellular proteins that reversibly bind fatty acids and other hydrophobicligands. In cestodes, due to their inability to synthesise fatty acids de novo, FABPs have been proposed as essential proteins,and thus, as possible drug targets and/or carriers against these parasites. We performed data mining in Echinococcusmultilocularis and Echinococcus granulosus genomes in order to test whether this family of proteins is more complex thanpreviously reported. By exploring the genomes of E. multilocularis and E. granulosus, six genes coding for FABPs were found ineach organism. In the case of E. granulosus, all of them have different coding sequences, whereas in E. multilocularis, two of thegenes code for the same protein. Remarkably, one of the genes (in both cestodes) encodes a FABP with a C-terminal extensionunusual for this family of proteins. The newly described genes present variations in their structure in comparison with previouslydescribed FABP genes in Echinococcus spp. The coding sequences for E. multilocularis were validated by cloning and sequencing.Moreover, differential expression patterns of FABPs were observed at different stages of the life cycle of E. multilocularis byexploring transcriptomic data from several sources. In summary, FABP family in cestodes is far more complex than previouslythought and includes new members that seem to be only present in flatworms.