Investigation of the proteolytic functions of an expanded cercarial elastase gene family in Schistosoma mansoni.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cercarial elastase is the major invasive larval protease in Schistosoma mansoni, a parasitic blood fluke, and is essential for host skin invasion. Genome sequence analysis reveals a greatly expanded family of cercarial elastase gene isoforms in Schistosoma mansoni. This expansion appears to be unique to S. mansoni, and it is unknown whether gene duplication has led to divergent protease function.

Methods

Profiling of transcript and protein expression patterns reveals that cercarial elastase isoforms are similarly expressed throughout the S. mansoni life cycle. Computational modeling predicts key differences in the substrate-binding pockets of various cercarial elastase isoforms, suggesting a diversification of substrate preferences compared with the ancestral gene

SUBMITTER: Ingram JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3317910 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature