Unraveling the complexity of the Rhomboid Serine Protease 4 Family of Babesia bovis using bioinformatics and experimental studies.

Babesia bovis, a tick-transmitted apicomplexan protozoon, infects cattle in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. In the apicomplexans Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum, rhomboid serine protease 4 (ROM4) fulfills an essential role in host cell invasion. We thus investigated B. bovis ROM4 coding genes; their genomic organization; their expression in in vitro cultured asexual (AS) and sexual stages (SS); and strain polymorphisms. B. bovis contains five rom4 paralogous genes in chromosome 2, which we have named rom4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5. There are moderate degrees of sequence identity between them, except for rom4.3 and 4.4, which are almost identical. RT-qPCR analysis showed that rom4.1 and rom4.3/4.4, respectively, display 18-fold and 218-fold significantly higher (p < 0.01) levels of transcription in SS than in AS, suggesting a role in gametogenesis-related processes. In contrast, transcription of rom4.4 and 4.5 differed non-significantly between the stages. ROM4 polymorphisms among geographic isolates were essentially restricted to the number of tandem repeats of a 29-amino acid sequence in ROM4.5. This sequence repeat is highly conserved and predicted as antigenic. B. bovis ROMs likely participate in relevant host?pathogen interactions and are possibly useful targets for the development of new control strategies against this pathogen.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	GALLENTI, R., HUSSEIN, H. E., ALZAN, H. F., SUAREZ, C. E., UETI, M., ASURMENDI, S., BENITEZ, D., ARAUJO, F. R., ROLLS, P., SIBEKO-MATJILA, K., SCHNITTGER, L., FLORIN-CHRISTENSEN, M.
Other Authors:	ROMINA GALLENTI, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (INTA-CONICET), Argentina.; HALA E. HUSSEIN, Washington State University, USA.; HEBA F. ALZAN, Washington State University, USA.; CARLOS E. SUAREZ, Washington State University, USA.; MASSARO UETI, Washington State University, USA.; SEBASTIÁN ASURMENDI, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (INTA-CONICET), Argentina.; DANIEL BENITEZ, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Argentina.; FLABIO RIBEIRO DE ARAUJO, CNPGC; PETER ROLLS, Department of Agriculture & Fisheries, Tick Fever Centre, Australia.; KGOMOTSO SIBEKO-MATJILA, University of Pretoria, South Africa.; LEONHARD SCHNITTGER, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (INTA-CONICET), Argentina.; MÓNICA FLORIN-CHRISTENSEN, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (INTA-CONICET), Argentina.
Format:	Artigo de periódico biblioteca
Language:	Ingles English
Published:	2022-03-21
Subjects:	Rhomboid serine proteases, Inter-strain polymorphism, Babesia Bovis, Tick-borne diseases, Babesiosis, Gene expression,
Online Access:	http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/alice/handle/doc/1141112
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