TcTASV-C, a protein family in Trypanosoma cruzi that is predominantly trypomastigote-stage specific and secreted to the medium

BERNABÓ, GUILLERMO; LEVY, GABRIELA VANESA; ZILIANI, MARÍA; CAEIRO, LUCAS; SÁNCHEZ, DANIEL; TEKIEL, VALERIA

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2013 vol. 8 p. 1 - 10

1932-6203

Among the several multigene families codified by the genome of T. cruzi, the TcTASVfamily was the latest discovered. The TcTASV (Trypomastigote, Alanine, Serine,Valine) family is composed of ~40 members, with conserved carboxi- and aminoterminibut with a variable central core. According to the length and sequence of thecentral region the family is split into 3 subfamilies. The TcTASV family is conserved inthe genomes of -at least- lineages TcI and TcVI and has no orthologues in othertrypanosomatids. In the present work we focus on the study of the TcTASV-Csubfamily, composed by 16 genes in the CL Brener strain. We determined thatTcTASV-C is preferentially expressed in trypomastigotes, but it is not a majorcomponent of the parasite. Both immunoflourescence and flow cytometry experimentsindicated that TcTASV-C has a clonal expression, i.e. it is not expressed by all theparasites of a certain population at the same time. We also determined that TcTASV-Cis phosphorylated and glycosylated. TASV-C is attached to the parasite surface by aGPI anchor and is shed spontaneously into the medium. About 30% of sera frominfected hosts reacted with TcTASV-C, confirming its exposition to the immune system.Its superficial localization and secretory nature suggest a possible role in host-parasiteinteractions.