Cysteine and Aspartyl Proteases Contribute to Protein Digestion in the Gut of Freshwater Planaria.

ABSTRACT: Proteases perform numerous vital functions in flatworms, many of which are likely to be conserved throughout the phylum Platyhelminthes. Within this phylum are several parasitic worms that are often poorly characterized due to their complex life-cycles and lack of responsiveness to genetic manipulation. The flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea, or planaria, is an ideal model organism to study the complex role of protein digestion due to its simple life cycle and amenability to techniques like RNA interference (RNAi). In this study, we were interested in deconvoluting the digestive protease system that exists in the planarian gut. To do this, we developed an alcohol-induced regurgitation technique to enrich for the gut enzymes in S. mediterranea. Using a panel of fluorescent substrates, we show

SUBMITTER: Goupil LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4976874 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature