Journal article
β-Tubulin genes of Trichomonas vaginalis
Molecular and biochemical parasitology, v 64(1), pp 33-42
1994
PMID: 8078521
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Microtubules, formed by polymerization of α and β-tubulins, are major structural components of the mitotic spindle, cytoskeleton, and flagella, and are also an important target for the antiparasitic benzimidazole drugs.
Trichomonas vaginalis, a flagellated protozoan responsible for urogenital tract infections in humans, is highly sensitive to certain benzimidazoles in vitro. As a first step towards defining the roles of microtubules in this organism, the regulation of their expression, and the basis for their benzimidazole sensitivity, we have characterized the genes encoding
T. vaginalis β-tubulin. A combination of genomic DNA cloning using bacteriophage lambda and PCR amplification using conserved β-tubulin gene primers was employed . Southern blots of DNA from two different
T. vaginalis strains suggest there are 6–7 β-tubulin gene copies. Sequencing identified three distinct genes:
btub1, btub2, and
btub3. Amplification of cDNA with gene-specific primers indicated that the relative expression of RNA transcripts was
btub1 > ⪢
btub3. The promoter region from
btub1 includes a 15-bp repeat also found (with 1-bp difference) upstream of the
T. vaginalis ferred oxin gene. Primer extension suggests the 5′ leader of the mRNA transcribed from
tub1 is only 10 nucleotides long, similar to the lengths found in other anaerobic protozoa. In 152 residues examined by PCR,
btub2 and
btub3 differed by 1 and 12 amino acids, respectively, from
btub1. All three sequences, however, have diverged considerably (20–24%) from β-tubulins of other protozoa.
T. vaginalis β-tubulins include residues Tyr167 and Phe200, previously implicated in resistance and sensitivity, respectively, to the benzimidazole derivative benomyl.
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Details
- Title
- β-Tubulin genes of Trichomonas vaginalis
- Creators
- Santosh K Katiyar - Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Pennsylvania, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129, PA, USAThomas D Edlind - Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Pennsylvania, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129, PA, USA
- Publication Details
- Molecular and biochemical parasitology, v 64(1), pp 33-42
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Microbiology and Immunology
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:A1994NH70700004
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-0028180468
- Other Identifier
- 991014877773804721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- Parasitology