Characterisation of novel functionality within the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene.
In recent years, the human gut microbiome has been recognised to play a pivotal role in the health of the host. Intestinal homeostasis relies on this intricate and complex relationship between the gut microbiota and the human host. While much effort and attention has been placed on the characterizat...
Published in: | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:34bb6420228c4550bcd304008a441437 2023-05-15T15:09:51+02:00 Characterisation of novel functionality within the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene. Steven Santino Leonardi Feng-Jun Li Melissa Su-Juan Chee John Anthony Yason Hui Yi Tay John Yu-Shen Chen Eileen Yiling Koh Cynthia Ying-Xin He Kevin Shyong-Wei Tan 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009730 https://doaj.org/article/34bb6420228c4550bcd304008a441437 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009730 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009730 https://doaj.org/article/34bb6420228c4550bcd304008a441437 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 15, Iss 9, p e0009730 (2021) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009730 2022-12-31T15:16:59Z In recent years, the human gut microbiome has been recognised to play a pivotal role in the health of the host. Intestinal homeostasis relies on this intricate and complex relationship between the gut microbiota and the human host. While much effort and attention has been placed on the characterization of the organisms that inhabit the gut microbiome, the complex molecular cross-talk between the microbiota could also exert an effect on gastrointestinal conditions. Blastocystis is a single-cell eukaryotic parasite of emerging interest, as its beneficial or pathogenic role in the microbiota has been a subject of contention even to-date. In this study, we assessed the function of the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene (BhTnaA), which was acquired by horizontal gene transfer and likely to be of bacterial origin within Blastocystis. Bioinformatic analysis and phylogenetic reconstruction revealed distinct divergence of BhTnaA versus known bacterial homologs. Despite sharing high homology with the E. coli tryptophanase gene, we show that Blastocystis does not readily convert tryptophan into indole. Instead, BhTnaA preferentially catalyzes the conversion of indole to tryptophan. We also show a direct link between E. coli and Blastocystis tryptophan metabolism: In the presence of E. coli, Blastocystis ST7 is less able to metabolise indole to tryptophan. This study examines the potential for functional variation in horizontally-acquired genes relative to their canonical counterparts, and identifies Blastocystis as a possible producer of tryptophan within the gut. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 15 9 e0009730 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Steven Santino Leonardi Feng-Jun Li Melissa Su-Juan Chee John Anthony Yason Hui Yi Tay John Yu-Shen Chen Eileen Yiling Koh Cynthia Ying-Xin He Kevin Shyong-Wei Tan Characterisation of novel functionality within the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
In recent years, the human gut microbiome has been recognised to play a pivotal role in the health of the host. Intestinal homeostasis relies on this intricate and complex relationship between the gut microbiota and the human host. While much effort and attention has been placed on the characterization of the organisms that inhabit the gut microbiome, the complex molecular cross-talk between the microbiota could also exert an effect on gastrointestinal conditions. Blastocystis is a single-cell eukaryotic parasite of emerging interest, as its beneficial or pathogenic role in the microbiota has been a subject of contention even to-date. In this study, we assessed the function of the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene (BhTnaA), which was acquired by horizontal gene transfer and likely to be of bacterial origin within Blastocystis. Bioinformatic analysis and phylogenetic reconstruction revealed distinct divergence of BhTnaA versus known bacterial homologs. Despite sharing high homology with the E. coli tryptophanase gene, we show that Blastocystis does not readily convert tryptophan into indole. Instead, BhTnaA preferentially catalyzes the conversion of indole to tryptophan. We also show a direct link between E. coli and Blastocystis tryptophan metabolism: In the presence of E. coli, Blastocystis ST7 is less able to metabolise indole to tryptophan. This study examines the potential for functional variation in horizontally-acquired genes relative to their canonical counterparts, and identifies Blastocystis as a possible producer of tryptophan within the gut. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Steven Santino Leonardi Feng-Jun Li Melissa Su-Juan Chee John Anthony Yason Hui Yi Tay John Yu-Shen Chen Eileen Yiling Koh Cynthia Ying-Xin He Kevin Shyong-Wei Tan |
author_facet |
Steven Santino Leonardi Feng-Jun Li Melissa Su-Juan Chee John Anthony Yason Hui Yi Tay John Yu-Shen Chen Eileen Yiling Koh Cynthia Ying-Xin He Kevin Shyong-Wei Tan |
author_sort |
Steven Santino Leonardi |
title |
Characterisation of novel functionality within the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene. |
title_short |
Characterisation of novel functionality within the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene. |
title_full |
Characterisation of novel functionality within the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene. |
title_fullStr |
Characterisation of novel functionality within the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Characterisation of novel functionality within the Blastocystis tryptophanase gene. |
title_sort |
characterisation of novel functionality within the blastocystis tryptophanase gene. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009730 https://doaj.org/article/34bb6420228c4550bcd304008a441437 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 15, Iss 9, p e0009730 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009730 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009730 https://doaj.org/article/34bb6420228c4550bcd304008a441437 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009730 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
e0009730 |
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1766340959171248128 |