A multigene family encoding surface glycoproteins in Trypanosoma congolense

Authors:

Magali Thonnus1, Amandine Guérin1,2 and Loïc Rivière1

doi: 10.15698/mic2017.03.562
Volume 4, pp. 90 to 97, published 02/03/2017.

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Affiliations:

1 Fundamental Microbiology and Pathogenicity Unit, CNRS UMR 5234, Bordeaux University, France.

2 Current affiliation: CNRS UMR 5235, Montpellier 2 University, France.

Keywords: 

Trypanosoma congolense, surface glycoprotein, multigene family, lectin-like, trypanosomes.

Corresponding Author(s):

Loïc Rivière, Fundamental Microbiology and Pathogenicity Unit, CNRS UMR 5234, Bat 3A 1er étage, Bordeaux University; 33000 Bordeaux, France loic.riviere@u-bordeaux.fr

Conflict of interest statement:

We declare no conflict of interest.

Please cite this article as:

Magali Thonnus, Amandine Guérin and Loïc Rivière (2017). A multigene family encoding surface glycoproteins in Trypanosoma congolense. Microbial Cell 4(3): 90-97.

© 2017 Thonnus et al. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.

Abstract:

Trypanosoma congolense, the causative agent of the most important livestock disease in Africa, expresses specific surface proteins involved in its parasitic lifestyle. Unfortunately, the complete repertoire of such molecules is far from being deciphered. As these membrane components are exposed to the host environment, they could be used as therapeutic or diagnostic targets. By mining the T. congolense genome database, we identified a novel family of lectin-like glycoproteins (TcoClecs). These molecules are predicted to have a transmembrane domain, a tandem repeat amino acid motif, a signal peptide and a C-type lectin-like domain (CTLD). This paper depicts several experimental arguments in favor of a surface localization in bloodstream forms of T. congolense. A TcoClec gene was heterologously expressed in U-2 OS cells and the product could be partially found at the plasma membrane. TcoClecs were also localized at the surface of T. congolense bloodstream forms. The signal was suppressed when the cells were treated with a detergent to remove the plasma membrane or with trypsin to « shave » the parasites and remove their external proteins. This suggests that TcoClecs could be potential diagnostic or therapeutic antigens of African animal trypanosomiasis. The potential role of these proteins in T. congolense as well as in other trypanosomatids is discussed.