Korean J Parasitol.  2014 Feb;52(1):21-26. 10.3347/kjp.2014.52.1.21.

Expression of Translationally Controlled Tumor Protein (TCTP) Gene of Dirofilaria immitis Guided by Transcriptomic Screening

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an 625014, China. guangyou1963@yahoo.com.cn
  • 2The Sichuan Key Laboratory for Conservation Biology on Endangered Wildlife, Developing Toward a State Key Laboratory for China, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, Sichuan 610081, China.
  • 3Department of Chemistry, College of Life and Basic Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an 625014, China.

Abstract

Dirofilaria immitis (heartworm) infections affect domestic dogs, cats, and various wild mammals with increasing incidence in temperate and tropical areas. More sensitive antibody detection methodologies are required to diagnose asymptomatic dirofilariasis with low worm burdens. Applying current transcriptomic technologies would be useful to discover potential diagnostic markers for D. immitis infection. A filarial homologue of the mammalian translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) was initially identified by screening the assembled transcriptome of D. immitis (DiTCTP). A BLAST analysis suggested that the DiTCTP gene shared the highest similarity with TCTP from Loa loa at protein level (97%). A histidine-tagged recombinant DiTCTP protein (rDiTCTP) of 40 kDa expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) showed immunoreactivity with serum from a dog experimentally infected with heartworms. Localization studies illustrated the ubiquitous presence of rDiTCTP protein in the lateral hypodermal chords, dorsal hypodermal chord, muscle, intestine, and uterus in female adult worms. Further studies on D. immitis-derived TCTP are warranted to assess whether this filarial protein could be used for a diagnostic purpose.

Keyword

Dirofilaria immitis; heartworm; dirofilariasis; translationally controlled tumor protein; transcriptome

MeSH Terms

Animal Structures/chemistry
Animals
Antibodies, Helminth/blood
Antigens, Helminth/chemistry/*genetics/immunology/*isolation & purification
Cloning, Molecular
Dirofilaria immitis/chemistry/*genetics/immunology
Disease Models, Animal
Dogs
Escherichia coli/genetics
Gene Expression
Molecular Sequence Data
Molecular Weight
Recombinant Fusion Proteins/chemistry/genetics/immunology/isolation & purification
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Tumor Markers, Biological/chemistry/*genetics/immunology/*isolation & purification
Antibodies, Helminth
Antigens, Helminth
Recombinant Fusion Proteins
Tumor Markers, Biological
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