Expression levels of encystation mediating factors in fresh strain of Acanthamoeba castellanii cyst ESTs

Eun Kyung Moon, Dong Il Chung, Yeonchul Hong, Hyun Hee Kong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The life cycle of Acanthamoeba consists of two stages, trophozoite and cyst. The cyst form is resistant to almost all antibiotics. By long term cultivation, Acanthamoeba severely attenuated the encysting ability. To determine the changing of gene expression by the long term cultivation, especially focusing an encystation mediating factors, this study compared the ESTs of the fresh strain and the old strain, and trophozoite. Comparison of the KOG (euKaryotic Orthologous Groups) analysis relative to trophozoite revealed higher percentages of cyst ESTs related to G (Carbohydrate transport and metabolism), H (Coenzyme transport and metabolism), I (Lipid transport and metabolism), D (Cell cycle control, cell division, chromosome partitioning), T (signal transduction mechanisms), and O (Posttranslational modification, protein turnover, chaperones). In addition to this result, KOG analysis of fresh strain relative to old strain showed higher percentage of cyst ESTs related to metabolism category and T (signal transduction mechanisms) article. ESTs of the fresh strain revealed more various gene profiles compared to the old strain including encystation mediating factors like autophagy related proteins (Z article) and signal transduction proteins (T article). Twenty seven kinds of protein kinase C (PKC) like genes were detected in cyst or trophozoite ESTs and twenty one of them were highly expressed during encystation. The information of the expressed genes during encystation in only the fresh strain will provide new clues to understanding the encystation mechanism of encysting protozoa including Acanthamoeba.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)811-816
Number of pages6
JournalExperimental Parasitology
Volume127
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2011

Keywords

  • Acanthamoeba
  • Encystation mediating factors
  • Fresh strain
  • Long term cultivation

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