Primary Structure and Coding Genes of Two Pheromones from the Antarctic Psychrophilic Ciliate, Euplotes focardii
In ciliates, diffusible cell type-specific pheromones regulate cell growth and mating phenomena acting competitively in both autocrine and heterologous fashion. In Euplotes species, these signaling molecules are represented by species-specific families of structurally homologous small, disulfide-ric...
| Published in: | Microorganisms |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Other Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11581/463166 https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10061089 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/10/6/1089 |
| Summary: | In ciliates, diffusible cell type-specific pheromones regulate cell growth and mating phenomena acting competitively in both autocrine and heterologous fashion. In Euplotes species, these signaling molecules are represented by species-specific families of structurally homologous small, disulfide-rich proteins, each specified by one of a series of multiple alleles that are inherited without relationships of dominance at the mat-genetic locus of the germinal micronuclear genome, and expressed as individual gene-sized molecules in the somatic macronuclear genome. Here we report the 85-amino acid sequences and the full-length macronuclear nucleotide coding sequences of two pheromones, designated Ef -1 and Ef -2, isolated from the supernatant of a wild-type strain of a psychrophilic species of Euplotes, E. focardii, endemic to Antarctic coastal waters. An overall comparison of the determined E. focardii pheromone and pheromone-gene structures with their homologs from congeneric species provides an initial picture of how an evolutionary increase in the complexity of these structures accompanies Euplotes speciation. |
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