Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov;119(11):3639-3648.
doi: 10.1007/s00436-020-06877-z. Epub 2020 Sep 15.

Characterization of the variable merozoite surface antigen (VMSA) gene family of Babesia orientalis

Zheng Nie  1   2 , Yingjun Xia  1   2 , Long Yu  1   2 , Muxiao Li  1   2 , Jiaying Guo  1   2 , Yali Sun  1   2 , Yangsiqi Ao  1   2 , Xueyan Zhan  1   2 , Yangnan Zhao  1   2 , Xiaomeng An  1   2 , Qin Liu  1   2 , Wang Sen  1   2 , Xiang Shu  1   2 , Dongfang Li  1   2 , Lan He  1   2   3 , Junlong Zhao  4   5   6
Affiliations

Characterization of the variable merozoite surface antigen (VMSA) gene family of Babesia orientalis

Zheng Nie et al. Parasitol Res. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Due to its wide presence in apicomplexan parasites as well as high polymorphism and antigenic diversity, the variable merozoite surface antigen (VMSA) family in Babesia sp. has attracted increasing attention of researchers. Here, all the reported VMSA genes of Babesia spp. were obtained from GenBank, and multiple alignments were performed by using conserved regions to blast the Babesia orientalis genome database (unpublished data). Five MSA genes (named MSA-2a1, MSA-2a2, MSA-2c1, MSA-1, and MSA-2c2, respectively) were identified, sequenced, and cloned from B. orientalis, which were shown to encode proteins with open reading frames ranging in size from 266 (MSA-2c1) to 317 (MSA-1) amino acids. All the five proteins contain an MSA-2c superfamily conserved domain, with an identical signal peptide and glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol (GPI)-anchor for each of them. The five proteins were also predicted to contain B cell epitopes, with only three for BoMSA-2c1, the smallest protein in the BoVMSA family, while at least six for each of the others. Notably, BoMSA-2a1 has 2 identical copies, a specific phenomenon only present in B. orientalis. This research has determined the MSA genes of B. orientalis and provides a genetic basis for further research of functional genes in B. orientalis.

Keywords: B cell epitopes; Babesia orientalis; GPI; MSA; Merozoite surface antigen.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Beeson JG, Drew DR, Boyle MJ, Feng G, Fowkes FJ, Richards JS (2016) Merozoite surface proteins in red blood cell invasion, immunity and vaccines against malaria. FEMS Microbiol Rev 40:343–372. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuw001 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Berkovits BD, Mayr C (2015) Alternative 3' UTRs act as scaffolds to regulate membrane protein localization. Nature 522(7556):363–367
    1. Carcy B, Precigout E, Valentin A, Gorenflot A, Schrevel J (1995) A 37-kilodalton glycoprotein of Babesia divergens is a major component of a protective fraction containing low-molecular-mass culture-derived exoantigens. Infect Immun 63:811–817 - DOI
    1. Carcy B, Precigout E, Schetters T, Gorenflot A (2006) Genetic basis for GPI-anchor merozoite surface antigen polymorphism of Babesia and resulting antigenic diversity. Vet Parasitol 138:33–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2006.01.038 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Carruthers VB (2002) Host cell invasion by the opportunistic pathogen Toxoplasma gondii. Acta Trop 81:111–122 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources