Sarcocystis neurona merozoites express a family of immunogenic surface antigens that are orthologues of the Toxoplasma gondii surface antigens (SAGs) and SAG-related sequences.

ABSTRACT: Sarcocystis neurona is a member of the Apicomplexa that causes myelitis and encephalitis in horses but normally cycles between the opossum and small mammals. Analysis of an S. neurona expressed sequence tag (EST) database revealed four paralogous proteins that exhibit clear homology to the family of surface antigens (SAGs) and SAG-related sequences of Toxoplasma gondii. The primary peptide sequences of the S. neurona proteins are consistent with the two-domain structure that has been described for the T. gondii SAGs, and each was predicted to have an amino-terminal signal peptide and a carboxyl-terminal glycolipid anchor addition site, suggesting surface localization. All four proteins were confirmed to be membrane associated and displayed on the surface of S. neurona merozoites. Due to th

SUBMITTER: Howe DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC546929 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature