Iron plays a crucial role in metabolism as a key component of catalytic and redox cofactors, such as heme or iron-sulfur clusters in enzymes and electron-transporting or regulatory proteins. Limitation of iron availability by the host is also one of the mechanisms involved in immunity. Pathogens must regulate their protein expression according to the iron concentration in their environment and optimize their metabolic pathways in cases of limitation through the availability of respective cofactors. Trichomonas vaginalis, a sexually transmitted pathogen of humans, requires high iron levels for optimal growth. It is an anaerobe that possesses hydrogenosomes, mitochondrion-related organelles that harbor pathways of energy metabolism and iron-sulfur cluster assembly. We analyzed the proteomes of hydrogenosomes obtained from cells cultivated under iron-rich and iron-deficient conditions employing two-dimensional peptide separation combining IEF and nano-HPLC with quantitative MALDI-MS/MS. We identified 179 proteins, of which 58 were differentially expressed. Iron deficiency led to the upregulation of proteins involved in iron-sulfur cluster assembly and the downregulation of enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Interestingly, iron affected the expression of only some of multiple protein paralogues, whereas the expression of others was iron independent. This finding indicates a stringent regulation of differentially expressed multiple gene copies in response to changes in the availability of exogenous iron.

• MeSH
• energetický metabolismus MeSH
• hmotnostní spektrometrie MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• organely metabolismus   ultrastruktura   MeSH
• oxidace-redukce MeSH
• proteom metabolismus   MeSH
• proteomika MeSH
• protozoální proteiny chemie   metabolismus   MeSH
• regulace genové exprese MeSH
• shluková analýza MeSH
• síra metabolismus   MeSH
• Trichomonas vaginalis genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• železo metabolismus   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Gene duplication is an important evolutionary mechanism and no eukaryote has more duplicated gene families than the parasitic protist Trichomonas vaginalis. Iron is an essential nutrient for Trichomonas and plays a pivotal role in the establishment of infection, proliferation, and virulence. To gain insight into the role of iron in T. vaginalis gene expression and genome evolution, we screened iron-regulated genes using an oligonucleotide microarray for T. vaginalis and by comparative EST (expressed sequence tag) sequencing of cDNA libraries derived from trichomonads cultivated under iron-rich (+Fe) and iron-restricted (-Fe) conditions. Among 19,000 ESTs from both libraries, we identified 336 iron-regulated genes, of which 165 were upregulated under +Fe conditions and 171 under -Fe conditions. The microarray analysis revealed that 195 of 4,950 unique genes were differentially expressed. Of these, 117 genes were upregulated under +Fe conditions and 78 were upregulated under -Fe conditions. The results of both methods were congruent concerning the regulatory trends and the representation of gene categories. Under +Fe conditions, the expression of proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, particularly in the energy metabolism of hydrogenosomes, and in methionine catabolism was increased. The iron-sulfur cluster assembly machinery and certain cysteine proteases are of particular importance among the proteins upregulated under -Fe conditions. A unique feature of the T. vaginalis genome is the retention during evolution of multiple paralogous copies for a majority of all genes. Although the origins and reasons for this gene expansion remain unclear, the retention of multiple gene copies could provide an opportunity to evolve differential expression during growth in variable environmental conditions. For genes whose expression was affected by iron, we found that iron influenced the expression of only some of the paralogous copies, whereas the expression of the other paralogs was iron independent. This finding indicates a very stringent regulation of the differentially expressed paralogous genes in response to changes in the availability of exogenous nutrients and provides insight into the evolutionary rationale underlying massive paralog retention in the Trichomonas genome.

• MeSH
• cysteinové proteasy genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• duplikace genu MeSH
• exprimované sekvenční adresy MeSH
• genom protozoální MeSH
• genová dávka MeSH
• genová knihovna MeSH
• glykolýza genetika   MeSH
• molekulární evoluce MeSH
• proteiny obsahující železo a síru genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• protozoální geny * MeSH
• regulace genové exprese * MeSH
• sekvenční analýza hybridizací s uspořádaným souborem oligonukleotidů MeSH
• transkriptom * MeSH
• Trichomonas vaginalis genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• železo metabolismus   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Mitochondrial processing peptidases are heterodimeric enzymes (alpha/betaMPP) that play an essential role in mitochondrial biogenesis by recognizing and cleaving the targeting presequences of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins. The two subunits are paralogues that probably evolved by duplication of a gene for a monomeric metallopeptidase from the endosymbiotic ancestor of mitochondria. Here, we characterize the MPP-like proteins from two important human parasites that contain highly reduced versions of mitochondria, the mitosomes of Giardia intestinalis and the hydrogenosomes of Trichomonas vaginalis. Our biochemical characterization of recombinant proteins showed that, contrary to a recent report, the Trichomonas processing peptidase functions efficiently as an alpha/beta heterodimer. By contrast, and so far uniquely among eukaryotes, the Giardia processing peptidase functions as a monomer comprising a single betaMPP-like catalytic subunit. The structure and surface charge distribution of the Giardia processing peptidase predicted from a 3-D protein model appear to have co-evolved with the properties of Giardia mitosomal targeting sequences, which, unlike classic mitochondrial targeting signals, are typically short and impoverished in positively charged residues. The majority of hydrogenosomal presequences resemble those of mitosomes, but longer, positively charged mitochondrial-type presequences were also identified, consistent with the retention of the Trichomonas alphaMPP-like subunit. Our computational and experimental/functional analyses reveal that the divergent processing peptidases of Giardia mitosomes and Trichomonas hydrogenosomes evolved from the same ancestral heterodimeric alpha/betaMPP metallopeptidase as did the classic mitochondrial enzyme. The unique monomeric structure of the Giardia enzyme, and the co-evolving properties of the Giardia enzyme and substrate, provide a compelling example of the power of reductive evolution to shape parasite biology.

• MeSH
• down regulace genetika   MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• genová dávka MeSH
• Giardia lamblia genetika   metabolismus   ultrastruktura   MeSH
• glycin fyziologie   genetika   chemie   MeSH
• metaloendopeptidasy genetika   chemie   metabolismus   MeSH
• mitochondrie metabolismus   MeSH
• multimerizace proteinu MeSH
• organely metabolismus   MeSH
• podjednotky proteinů genetika   MeSH
• posttranslační úpravy proteinů genetika   MeSH
• proteinové domény bohaté na prolin fyziologie   genetika   MeSH
• řízená evoluce molekul MeSH
• sekvence aminokyselin MeSH
• transport proteinů MeSH
• Trichomonas vaginalis genetika   metabolismus   ultrastruktura   MeSH
• vodík metabolismus   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• srovnávací studie MeSH