Department of Veterinary Science, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31164. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031164. Epub 2012 Feb 22.
SCP/TAPS proteins of parasitic helminths have been proposed to play key roles in fundamental biological processes linked to the invasion of and establishment in their mammalian host animals, such as the transition from free-living to parasitic stages and the modulation of host immune responses. Despite the evidence that SCP/TAPS proteins of parasitic nematodes are involved in host-parasite interactions, there is a paucity of information on this protein family for parasitic trematodes of socio-economic importance.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted the first large-scale study of SCP/TAPS proteins of a range of parasitic trematodes of both human and veterinary importance (including the liver flukes Clonorchis sinensis, Opisthorchis viverrini, Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica as well as the blood flukes Schistosoma mansoni, S. japonicum and S. haematobium). We mined all current transcriptomic and/or genomic sequence datasets from public databases, predicted secondary structures of full-length protein sequences, undertook systematic phylogenetic analyses and investigated the differential transcription of SCP/TAPS genes in O. viverrini and F. hepatica, with an emphasis on those that are up-regulated in the developmental stages infecting the mammalian host.
This work, which sheds new light on SCP/TAPS proteins, guides future structural and functional explorations of key SCP/TAPS molecules associated with diseases caused by flatworms. Future fundamental investigations of these molecules in parasites and the integration of structural and functional data could lead to new approaches for the control of parasitic diseases.
寄生虫蠕虫的 SCP/TAPS 蛋白被认为在与入侵和在哺乳动物宿主动物中建立有关的基本生物学过程中发挥关键作用，例如从自由生活到寄生阶段的转变和宿主免疫反应的调节。尽管有证据表明寄生线虫的 SCP/TAPS 蛋白参与宿主-寄生虫相互作用，但对于具有社会经济重要性的寄生吸虫，关于该蛋白家族的信息很少。
方法/主要发现：我们对一系列具有人类和兽医重要性的寄生虫吸虫（包括肝吸虫 Clonorchis sinensis、麝猫后睾吸虫 Opisthorchis viverrini、肝片吸虫 Fasciola hepatica 和 F. gigantica 以及血吸虫曼氏血吸虫 Schistosoma mansoni、日本血吸虫 S. japonicum 和 S. haematobium）的 SCP/TAPS 蛋白进行了首次大规模研究。我们从公共数据库中挖掘了所有当前的转录组和/或基因组序列数据集，预测了全长蛋白序列的二级结构，进行了系统的系统发育分析，并研究了 O. viverrini 和 F. hepatica 中 SCP/TAPS 基因的差异转录，重点是那些在感染哺乳动物宿主的发育阶段上调的基因。
这项工作为 SCP/TAPS 蛋白提供了新的见解，指导了与扁形虫引起的疾病相关的关键 SCP/TAPS 分子的结构和功能探索。未来对寄生虫中这些分子的基础研究以及结构和功能数据的整合，可能为寄生虫病的控制带来新的方法。
