Identification of homologous and orthologous genes of the multigene family SAP in Trypanosoma cruzi strains and other species of the clade Trypanosoma cruzi

Abstract

The trypanosomes are unicellular protozoan parasites belonging to order Kinetoplastida, family Trypanosomatidae. The genus Trypanosoma includes many species with broad geographic distribution that vary at the genotypic as phenotypic levels. Cell invasion is a crucial step in the establishment of infection of vertebrates by Trypanosoma cruzi. This parasite shows a vast repertoire of surface and secreted molecules that interact with components of the mammalian cell activating signaling pathways leading to intracellular calcium mobilization, a key event for internalization of the parasite. The SAP multigene family of T. cruzi encodes polypeptides enriched in serine, alanine and proline residues which are characterized by the presence of a central domain 513 bp (171 amino acids), called SAP- CD. Previous studies from our group demonstrated the participation of SAP in the interaction and mammalian cell invasion by metacyclic forms of T. cruzi. Given the important role of SAP, we aim to investigate the presence of homologous and orthologous SAP genes in different lineages of T. cruzi, in the subspecies T. c. marinkellei and several species of T. cruzi clade. To achieve this objective, two different strategies will be used:1) Search and orthologous genes counterparts by bioinformatics tools on the banks of genome data (GenBank, TritrypDB and DP-ICB-USP).2) To investigate the presence of SAP sequences by PCR amplification on the nuclear DNA of Trypanosoma species whose genomes have not been yet sequenced. The SAP variants will be sequenced and mapped by hybridization chromosomal bands separated by PFGE ("pulsed field gel electrophoresis").3) To build phylogenetic trees with complete SAP sequences seeking to understand the evolution of this multigene family between different species of T. cruzi clade.