Arginine Deiminase Plays Multiple Regulatory Roles In The Biology Of Giardia lamblia.

TOUZ MC; RÓPOLO AS; RIVERO MR; VRANYCH CV; CONRAD J; SVARD S; NAS TE

JOURNAL OF CELL SCIENCE

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2008

0021-9533

The protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia utilizes arginine deiminase (gADI) to produce energy from free L-arginine under anaerobic conditions. In this work, we demonstrate that in addition to its known role as a metabolic enzyme, it also functions as a pepidtyl-arginine deiminase converting protein-bound arginine into citrulline. gADI specifically binds to and citrullinates the arginine in the conserved CRGKA tail of  variant-specific surface proteins (VSPs) affecting both antigenic switching and antibody mediated cell death. During encystation gADI translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and appear to play a regulatory role in the expression of encystation specific genes. gADI is also sumoylated, which may modulate its activity. Our findings reveal a dual role played by gADI and define novel regulatory pathways used by Giardia for survival.