Characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (SmAP).
Schistosomes are parasitic platyhelminths that currently infect over 200 million people globally. The parasites can live for years in a putatively hostile environment - the blood of vertebrates. We have hypothesized that the unusual schistosome tegument (outer-covering) plays a role in protecting pa...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e4c602f90a7544a4acc93595620745c0 2023-05-15T15:07:35+02:00 Characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (SmAP). Rita Bhardwaj Patrick J Skelly 2011-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001011 https://doaj.org/article/e4c602f90a7544a4acc93595620745c0 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3071363?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001011 https://doaj.org/article/e4c602f90a7544a4acc93595620745c0 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 5, Iss 4, p e1011 (2011) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2011 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001011 2022-12-31T00:13:44Z Schistosomes are parasitic platyhelminths that currently infect over 200 million people globally. The parasites can live for years in a putatively hostile environment - the blood of vertebrates. We have hypothesized that the unusual schistosome tegument (outer-covering) plays a role in protecting parasites in the blood; by impeding host immunological signaling pathways we suggest that tegumental molecules help create an immunologically privileged environment for schistosomes. In this work, we clone and characterize a schistosome alkaline phosphatase (SmAP), a predicted ∼60 kDa glycoprotein that has high sequence conservation with members of the alkaline phosphatase protein family. The SmAP gene is most highly expressed in intravascular parasite life stages. Using immunofluorescence and immuno-electron microscopy, we confirm that SmAP is expressed at the host/parasite interface and in internal tissues. The ability of living parasites to cleave exogenous adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and generate adenosine is very largely abolished when SmAP gene expression is suppressed following RNAi treatment targeting the gene. These results lend support to the hypothesis that schistosome surface enzymes such as SmAP could dampen host immune responses against the parasites by generating immunosuppressants such as adenosine to promote their survival. This notion does not rule out other potential functions for the adenosine generated e.g. in parasite nutrition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 5 4 e1011 |
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 Rita Bhardwaj Patrick J Skelly Characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (SmAP). |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Schistosomes are parasitic platyhelminths that currently infect over 200 million people globally. The parasites can live for years in a putatively hostile environment - the blood of vertebrates. We have hypothesized that the unusual schistosome tegument (outer-covering) plays a role in protecting parasites in the blood; by impeding host immunological signaling pathways we suggest that tegumental molecules help create an immunologically privileged environment for schistosomes. In this work, we clone and characterize a schistosome alkaline phosphatase (SmAP), a predicted ∼60 kDa glycoprotein that has high sequence conservation with members of the alkaline phosphatase protein family. The SmAP gene is most highly expressed in intravascular parasite life stages. Using immunofluorescence and immuno-electron microscopy, we confirm that SmAP is expressed at the host/parasite interface and in internal tissues. The ability of living parasites to cleave exogenous adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and generate adenosine is very largely abolished when SmAP gene expression is suppressed following RNAi treatment targeting the gene. These results lend support to the hypothesis that schistosome surface enzymes such as SmAP could dampen host immune responses against the parasites by generating immunosuppressants such as adenosine to promote their survival. This notion does not rule out other potential functions for the adenosine generated e.g. in parasite nutrition. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rita Bhardwaj Patrick J Skelly |
author_facet |
Rita Bhardwaj Patrick J Skelly |
author_sort |
Rita Bhardwaj |
title |
Characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (SmAP). |
title_short |
Characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (SmAP). |
title_full |
Characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (SmAP). |
title_fullStr |
Characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (SmAP). |
title_full_unstemmed |
Characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (SmAP). |
title_sort |
characterization of schistosome tegumental alkaline phosphatase (smap). |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001011 https://doaj.org/article/e4c602f90a7544a4acc93595620745c0 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 5, Iss 4, p e1011 (2011) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3071363?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001011 https://doaj.org/article/e4c602f90a7544a4acc93595620745c0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001011 |
container_title |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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5 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
e1011 |
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1766339056150511616 |