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Tubulins in Trichomonas vaginalis : Molecular Characterization of α‐Tubulin Genes, Posttranslational Modifications, and Homology Modeling of the Tubulin Dimer
Author(s) -
NOÉL CHRISTOPHE,
GERBOD DELPHINE,
FAST NAOMI. M.,
WINTJENS RENÉ,
DELGADOVISCOGLIOSI PILAR,
DOOLITTLE W. FORD,
VISCOGLIOSI ERIC
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2001.tb00204.x
Subject(s) - biology , tubulin , trichomonas vaginalis , gene , homology (biology) , genetics , acetylation , microtubule , eukaryote , amino acid , protozoa , genome
ABSTRACT. We have isolated and analysed an α‐tubulin‐encoding gene ( atub1 ) in an early‐diverging eukaryote, Trichomonas vaginalis. The complete atub1 open reading frame included 1,356 bp encoding a polypeptide of 452 amino‐acyl residues. A second α‐ tubulin gene (atub2) was amplified by PCR using primers derived from consensus α‐tubulin amino acid sequences. Both T. vaginalis α‐tubulin sequences showed high identity to those described in other parabasalids (94.4%–97.3%), and exhibited a high degree of similarity to sequences from Metazoa (such as pig brain) and diplomonads (such as Giardia ). Despite large evolutionary distances previously observed between trichomonads and mammals, the three‐dimensional model of the T. vaginalis tubulin dimer was very similar to that of pig brain. Possible correlations between α‐tubulin sequences and posttranslational modifications (PTMs) were examined. Our observations corroborated previous data obtained in T. vaginalis using specific anti‐PTMs antibodies. As described in the related species Tritrichomonas mobilensis , microtubules are likely acetylated, non‐tyrosinated, glutamylated, and non‐glycylated in T. vaginalis. Evolutionary considerations concerning the time of appearance of these tubulin PTMs are also discussed since trichomonads are potentially one of the earliest diverging eukaryotic lineages.