Cysteine proteases and cell differentiation: excystment of the ciliated protist Sterkiella histriomuscorum.

ABSTRACT: The process of excystment of Sterkiella histriomuscorum (Ciliophora, Oxytrichidae) leads in a few hours, through a massive influx of water and the resorption of the cyst wall, from an undifferentiated resting cyst to a highly differentiated and dividing vegetative cell. While studying the nature of the genes involved in this process, we isolated three different cysteine proteases genes, namely, a cathepsin B gene, a cathepsin L-like gene, and a calpain-like gene. Excystation was selectively inhibited at a precise differentiating stage by cysteine proteases inhibitors, suggesting that these proteins are specifically required during the excystment process. Reverse transcription-PCR experiments showed that both genes display differential expression between the cyst and the vegetative cells. A

SUBMITTER: Villalobo E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC326638 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature