Babesia microti Immunoreactive Rhoptry-Associated Protein-1 Paralogs Are Ancestral Members of the Piroplasmid-Confined RAP-1 Family.

ABSTRACT: Babesia, Cytauxzoon and Theileria are tick-borne apicomplexan parasites of the order Piroplasmida, responsible for diseases in humans and animals. Members of the piroplasmid rhoptry-associated protein-1 (pRAP-1) family have a signature cysteine-rich domain and are important for parasite development. We propose that the closely linked B. microti genes annotated as BMR1_03g00947 and BMR1_03g00960 encode two paralogue pRAP-1-like proteins named BmIPA48 and Bm960. The two genes are tandemly arranged head to tail, highly expressed in blood stage parasites, syntenic to rap-1 genes of other piroplasmids, and share large portions of an almost identical ~225 bp sequence located in their 5' putative regulatory regions. BmIPA48 and Bm960 proteins contain a N-termina

SUBMITTER: Bastos RG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8624774 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature