Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C., Mazatlán82112, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mazatlán82040, Sinaloa, Mexico.
J Helminthol. 2022 Mar 24;96:e23. doi: 10.1017/S0022149X22000098.
Tetraspanins are a superfamily of transmembrane proteins that in flatworms have structural roles in the development, maturation or stability of the tegument. Several tetraspanins are considered as potential candidates for vaccines or drugs against helminths. Monopisthocotylean monogeneans are ectoparasites of fish that are health hazards for farmed fish. The aim of this study was to identify in silico putative tetraspanins in the genomic datasets of four monopisthocotylean species. The analysis predicted and classified 40 tetraspanins in Rhabdosynochus viridisi, 39 in Scutogyrus longicornis, 22 in Gyrodactylus salaris and 13 in Neobenedenia melleni, belonging to 13 orthologous groups. The high divergence of tetraspanins made it difficult to annotate their function. However, a conserved group was identified in different metazoan taxa. According to this study, metazoan tetraspanins can be divided into 17 monophyletic groups. Of the 114 monogenean tetraspanins, only seven were phylogenetically close to tetraspanins from non-platyhelminth metazoans, which suggests that this group of proteins shows rapid sequence divergence. The similarity of the monopisthocotylean tetraspanins was highest with trematodes, followed by cestodes and then free-living platyhelminths. In total, 27 monopisthocotylean-specific and 34 flatworm-specific tetraspanins were identified. Four monogenean tetraspanins were orthologous to TSP-1, which is a candidate for the development of vaccines and a potential pharmacological target in trematodes and cestodes. Although studies of tetraspanins in parasitic flatworms are scarce, this is an interesting group of proteins for the development of new methods to control monogeneans.
四跨膜蛋白是一类跨膜蛋白超家族，在扁形动物中，它们在表皮的发育、成熟或稳定性中具有结构作用。一些四跨膜蛋白被认为是针对寄生虫的疫苗或药物的潜在候选物。单殖吸虫是鱼类的外寄生虫，对养殖鱼类的健康构成威胁。本研究的目的是在四个单殖吸虫物种的基因组数据集中鉴定出推定的四跨膜蛋白。分析预测并分类了 Rhabdosynochus viridisi 中的 40 个四跨膜蛋白、Scutogyrus longicornis 中的 39 个、Gyrodactylus salaris 中的 22 个和 Neobenedenia melleni 中的 13 个，它们属于 13 个同源基因群。四跨膜蛋白的高度分化使得难以注释其功能。然而，在不同的后生动物分类群中鉴定出了一个保守的群组。根据本研究，后生动物四跨膜蛋白可以分为 17 个单系群。在 114 个单殖吸虫四跨膜蛋白中，只有 7 个与非扁形动物后生动物的四跨膜蛋白在系统发育上接近，这表明该蛋白组具有快速的序列分化。单殖吸虫四跨膜蛋白与吸虫的相似性最高，其次是绦虫，然后是自由生活的扁形动物。总共鉴定出 27 种单殖吸虫特异性和 34 种扁形动物特异性四跨膜蛋白。有 4 种单殖吸虫四跨膜蛋白与 TSP-1 是同源的，TSP-1 是一种疫苗开发的候选物，也是吸虫和绦虫中潜在的药理学靶点。尽管寄生扁形动物的四跨膜蛋白研究较少，但这是一组用于开发控制单殖吸虫新方法的有趣蛋白。
