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Characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi TcRjl locus and analysis of its transcript

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2004

J. L. NEPOMUCENO-SILVA ,
L. D. B. DE MELO ,
S. M. MENDONÇA ,
J. C. PAIXÃO  and
U. G. LOPES
J. L. NEPOMUCENO-SILVA
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Parasitologia Molecular, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21949-900, Brazil
L. D. B. DE MELO
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Parasitologia Molecular, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21949-900, Brazil
S. M. MENDONÇA
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Parasitologia Molecular, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21949-900, Brazil
J. C. PAIXÃO
Affiliation:
Instituto Fernandes Figueira, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22250-020, Brazil
U. G. LOPES
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Parasitologia Molecular, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21949-900, Brazil
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Abstract

RJLs represent a recently described family of the Ras-related GTP-binding proteins. The Trypanosoma cruzi orthologue, TcRjl, was isolated and its locus was characterized in a region of almost 5 kb. Its 660 bp orf, predicting a protein of 24·13 kDa, is present as a single copy gene in T. cruzi I lineage, and from 1–2 copies in T. cruzi II lineage. TcRjl shares 73% aa sequence similarity with its closest identified orthologue, T. brucei TbRjl. RT–PCR experiments revealed that TcRjl is transcribed in mRNA in the 3 main life forms of the parasite, while Northern hybridization demonstrated that TcRjl is transcribed in T. cruzi epimastigotes as at least 2 transcripts, one of around 950 nt and the other of 1500 nt. Splice-leader addition was mapped to a single site at −69 bp upstream of TcRjl orf indicating that the two mRNA types may derive in differences at the 3′ of TcRjl mRNA. TcRjl locus presents considerable synteny with Rjl loci from Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania major as available from their respective genome projects.

Keywords

Ras superfamilyGTP-binding proteinsTrypanosoma cruzi
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 129 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 325 - 333
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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