Expression of Anaplasma marginale ankyrin repeat-containing proteins during infection of the mammalian host and tick vector.

ABSTRACT: Transmission of tick-borne pathogens requires transition between distinct host environments with infection and replication in host-specific cell types. Anaplasma marginale illustrates this transition: in the mammalian host, the bacterium infects and replicates in mature (nonnucleated) erythrocytes, while in the tick vector, replication occurs in nucleated epithelial cells. We hypothesized that proteins containing ankyrin motifs would be expressed by A. marginale only in tick cells and would traffic to the infected host cell nucleus. A. marginale encodes three proteins containing ankyrin motifs, an AnkA orthologue (the AM705 protein), AnkB (the AM926 protein), and AnkC (the AM638 protein). All three A. marginale Anks were confirmed to be expressed during intracellular infection: AnkA is exp

SUBMITTER: Ramabu SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3191954 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature