Korean J Parasitol.  2007 Dec;45(4):283-285. 10.3347/kjp.2007.45.4.283.

Differentially expressed genes of Acanthamoeba castellanii during encystation

• Moon EK
• Chung DI
• Hong YC
• Kong HH

• KMID: 1089949
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2007.45.4.283

Abstract

To examine the expressed gene profile during encystation of Acanthamoeba castellanii Castellani, we used differentially expressed gene (DGE) screening by RT-PCR with 20 sets of random primers. From this analysis, we found that approximately 16 genes showed upregulation during encystation. We chose 6 genes, which had relatively higher expression levels, for further investigation. Based on homology search in database, DEG2 showed 55% of similarity with xylose isomerase, DEG9 showed 37% of similarity with Na P-type ATPase, and DEG14 showed 77% of similarity with subtilisin-like serine proteinase. DEG3 and DEG26 were identified as hypothetical proteins and DEG25 exhibited no significant similarity to any known protein. Encystation of Acanthamoeba has been suggested to be a process to resist adverse environmental or nutritional conditions. Further characterization studies of these genes may provide us with more information on the encystation mechanism of Acanthamoeba.

Keyword

Acanthamoeba; differentially expressed gene; encystation

MeSH Terms

Acanthamoeba castellanii/*genetics/*growth & development
Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
*Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation
*Life Cycle Stages
Molecular Sequence Data
Protozoan Proteins/*genetics
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Sequence Alignment
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Up-Regulation