Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Cloning, characterization, and subcellular localization of a Trypanosoma cruzi argonaute protein defining a new subfamily distinctive of trypanosomatids

Garcia Silva, Maria R. ; Tosar, Juan P. ; Frugier, Magali ; Pantano, Sergio ; Bonilla, Braulio ; Esteban, Luis ; Serra, Esteban ; Rovira, Carlos LU ; Robello, Carlos and Cayota, Alfonso (2010) In Gene 466(1-2). p.26-35
Abstract
Over the last years an expanding family of small non-coding RNAs (sRNA) has been identified in eukaryotic genomes which behave as sequence-specific triggers for mRNA degradation, translation repression, heterochromatin formation and genome stability. To achieve their effectors functions, sRNAs associate with members of the Argonaute protein family. Argonaute proteins are segregated into three paralogous groups: the AGO-like subfamily, the PIWI-like subfamily, and the WAGO subfamily (for Worm specific AGO). Detailed phylogenetic analysis of the small RNA-related machinery components revealed that they can be traced back to the common ancestor of eukaryotes. However, this machinery seems to be lost or excessively simplified in some... (More)
Over the last years an expanding family of small non-coding RNAs (sRNA) has been identified in eukaryotic genomes which behave as sequence-specific triggers for mRNA degradation, translation repression, heterochromatin formation and genome stability. To achieve their effectors functions, sRNAs associate with members of the Argonaute protein family. Argonaute proteins are segregated into three paralogous groups: the AGO-like subfamily, the PIWI-like subfamily, and the WAGO subfamily (for Worm specific AGO). Detailed phylogenetic analysis of the small RNA-related machinery components revealed that they can be traced back to the common ancestor of eukaryotes. However, this machinery seems to be lost or excessively simplified in some unicellular organisms such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania major and Plasmodium falciparum which are unable to utilize dsRNA to trigger degradation of target RNAs. We reported here a unique ORF encoding for an AGO/PIWI protein in T. cruzi which was expressed in all stages of its life cycle at the transcript as well as the protein level. Database search for remote homologues, revealed the presence of a divergent PAZ domain adjacent to the well supported PIWI domain. Our results strongly suggested that this unique AGO/PIWI protein from T. cruzi is a canonical Argonaute in terms of its domain architecture. We propose to reclassify all Argonaute members from trypanosomatids as a distinctive phylogenetic group representing a new subfamily of Argonaute proteins and propose the generic designation of AGO/PIWI-tryp to identify them. Inside the Trypanosomatid-specific node, AGO/PIWI-tryps were clearly segregated into two paralog groups designated as AGO-tryp and PIWI-tryp according to the presence or absence of a functional link with RNAi-related phenomena, respectively. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Argonaute phylogeny, Small RNAs, Protozoan parasites, Piwi-like protein
in
Gene
volume
466
issue
1-2
pages
26 - 35
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000282390200003
  • scopus:77956226465
  • pmid:20621168
ISSN
1879-0038
DOI
10.1016/j.gene.2010.06.012
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6b2d1551-8da3-4b42-877b-94d0a191fb89 (old id 1727227)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:58:20
date last changed
2022-03-14 08:38:58
@article{6b2d1551-8da3-4b42-877b-94d0a191fb89,
  abstract     = {{Over the last years an expanding family of small non-coding RNAs (sRNA) has been identified in eukaryotic genomes which behave as sequence-specific triggers for mRNA degradation, translation repression, heterochromatin formation and genome stability. To achieve their effectors functions, sRNAs associate with members of the Argonaute protein family. Argonaute proteins are segregated into three paralogous groups: the AGO-like subfamily, the PIWI-like subfamily, and the WAGO subfamily (for Worm specific AGO). Detailed phylogenetic analysis of the small RNA-related machinery components revealed that they can be traced back to the common ancestor of eukaryotes. However, this machinery seems to be lost or excessively simplified in some unicellular organisms such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania major and Plasmodium falciparum which are unable to utilize dsRNA to trigger degradation of target RNAs. We reported here a unique ORF encoding for an AGO/PIWI protein in T. cruzi which was expressed in all stages of its life cycle at the transcript as well as the protein level. Database search for remote homologues, revealed the presence of a divergent PAZ domain adjacent to the well supported PIWI domain. Our results strongly suggested that this unique AGO/PIWI protein from T. cruzi is a canonical Argonaute in terms of its domain architecture. We propose to reclassify all Argonaute members from trypanosomatids as a distinctive phylogenetic group representing a new subfamily of Argonaute proteins and propose the generic designation of AGO/PIWI-tryp to identify them. Inside the Trypanosomatid-specific node, AGO/PIWI-tryps were clearly segregated into two paralog groups designated as AGO-tryp and PIWI-tryp according to the presence or absence of a functional link with RNAi-related phenomena, respectively. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Garcia Silva, Maria R. and Tosar, Juan P. and Frugier, Magali and Pantano, Sergio and Bonilla, Braulio and Esteban, Luis and Serra, Esteban and Rovira, Carlos and Robello, Carlos and Cayota, Alfonso}},
  issn         = {{1879-0038}},
  keywords     = {{Argonaute phylogeny; Small RNAs; Protozoan parasites; Piwi-like protein}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1-2}},
  pages        = {{26--35}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Gene}},
  title        = {{Cloning, characterization, and subcellular localization of a Trypanosoma cruzi argonaute protein defining a new subfamily distinctive of trypanosomatids}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2010.06.012}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.gene.2010.06.012}},
  volume       = {{466}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}