The Sub‐Chromosomic Macronuclear Pheromone Genes of the Ciliate <i>Euplotes raikovi</i>: Comparative Structural Analysis and Insights into the Mechanism of Expression

Ricci, Francesca; Candelori, Annalisa; Brandi, Anna; Alimenti, Claudio; Luporini, Pierangelo; Vallesi, Adriana

doi:10.1111/jeu.12677

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…1994; Ricci et al. 2018; Wang et al. 2020), identification of an in‐frame TAG codon for residue 68 of the cagein upstream ORF was unexpected.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though several papers have reported that TAG codons in diverse Euplotes genes may sometimes be used to code for amino acids (Miceli et al 1994;Ricci et al 2018;Wang et al 2020), identification of an in-frame TAG codon for residue 68 of the cagein upstream ORF was unexpected. This finding helped lead to the identification of the presumptive intron in the cagein gene described above.…”

Section: Sequence Features and Properties Of The Derived Cagein Polypeptidementioning

confidence: 99%

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Sequence and Properties of Cagein, a Coiled‐Coil Scaffold Protein Linking Basal Bodies in the Polykinetids of the Ciliate Euplotesaediculatus

Kloetzel

Aubusson-Fleury

Butler

et al. 2021

J Eukaryotic Microbiology

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In the hypotrich ciliate Euplotes, many individual basal bodies are grouped together in tightly packed clusters, forming ventral polykinetids. These groups of basal bodies (which produce compound ciliary organelles such as cirri and oral membranelles) are cross‐linked into ordered arrays by scaffold structures known as “basal‐body cages.” The major protein comprising Euplotes cages has been previously identified and termed “cagein.” Screening a E. aediculatus cDNA expression library with anti‐cagein antisera identified a DNA insert containing most of a putative cagein gene; standard PCR techniques were used to complete the sequence. Probes designed from this gene identified a macronuclear “nanochromosome” of ca. 1.5 kb in Southern blots against whole‐cell DNA. The protein derived from this sequence (463 residues) is predicted to be hydrophilic and highly charged; however, the native cage structures are highly resistant to salt/detergent extraction. This insolubility could be explained by the coiled‐coil regions predicted to extend over much of the length of the derived cagein polypeptide. One frameshift sequence is found within the gene, as well as a short intron. BLAST searches find many ciliates with evident homologues to cagein within their derived genomic sequences.

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“…1994; Ricci et al. 2018; Wang et al. 2020), identification of an in‐frame TAG codon for residue 68 of the cagein upstream ORF was unexpected.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sequence Features and Properties Of The Derived Cagein Polypeptidementioning

confidence: 99%

Sequence and Properties of Cagein, a Coiled‐Coil Scaffold Protein Linking Basal Bodies in the Polykinetids of the Ciliate Euplotesaediculatus

Kloetzel

Aubusson-Fleury

Butler

et al. 2021

J Eukaryotic Microbiology

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“…Two E. raikovi strains of different mating types (I and XIII) used extensively in previous research (Ricci et al, 2019) were selected in the present study. Cell culturing and conjugation induction were according to Gong et al (2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphogenesis of the Ciliature During Sexual Process of Conjugation in the Ciliated Protist Euplotes raikovi

et al. 2021

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Morphogenesis is an important process that widely occurs in almost all the organisms, including the ciliated protists. Ciliates are a large group of single-celled eukaryotes that can reproduce asexually (e.g., binary fission) and perform sexual process (e.g., conjugation). Morphogenesis happens in both asexual reproduction and sexual process in ciliates and the reorganization during conjugation is more complex. However, studies of morphogenesis focusing on conjugation are very limited. Here we studied the morphogenetic process during conjugation in the marine species Euplotes raikovi Agamaliev, 1966. The results indicate that: (1) the ciliature in the ventral side reorganizes twice during sexual process, i.e., conjugational and postconjugational reorganization; (2) the adoral zone of membranelles (AZM) is generated de novo in a pouch beneath the cortex during both reorganizations, with the anterior part generated during the first reorganization, while the posterior part formed during the second reorganization; (3) the frontoventral-transverse (FVT) cirri anlagen are formed de novo in both processes with the fragmentation pattern of 2:2:3:3:2; (4) one left marginal cirrus is generated de novo during both reorganizations; and (5) the dorsal ciliature remains intact during the whole process, except that the two caudal cirri originate from the end of the right-most two dorsal kineties during both reorganizations. Comparisons of the morphogenetic process during conjugation demonstrate a considerably stable pattern within Euplotes while the patterns vary dramatically among different ciliate groups.

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“…On the other hand, the 5 -leader regions are poorly conserved (42% sequence identity) and markedly extended (1768 bp in mac-ef -1, and 1357 bp in mac-ef -2). This poor conservation, that has no equal in allelic pheromone genes characterized from other Euplotes species [19][20][21]28,44], is also due to the loss in the mac-ef -2 gene of five segments of 73, 90, 93, 146 and 169 bp from the 5 -leader region (Supplementary Figure S1). The remarkable extension of this region likely reflects the inclusion of intron sequences, as suggested by the presence of multiple canonical GTA-TAG splicing sites.…”

Section: Pheromone Gene Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Primary Structure and Coding Genes of Two Pheromones from the Antarctic Psychrophilic Ciliate, Euplotes focardii

Alimenti¹,

Candelori²,

Jiang³

et al. 2022

Microorganisms

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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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The Sub‐Chromosomic Macronuclear Pheromone Genes of the Ciliate Euplotes raikovi: Comparative Structural Analysis and Insights into the Mechanism of Expression

Cited by 10 publications

References 52 publications

Sequence and Properties of Cagein, a Coiled‐Coil Scaffold Protein Linking Basal Bodies in the Polykinetids of the Ciliate Euplotesaediculatus

Sequence and Properties of Cagein, a Coiled‐Coil Scaffold Protein Linking Basal Bodies in the Polykinetids of the Ciliate Euplotesaediculatus

Morphogenesis of the Ciliature During Sexual Process of Conjugation in the Ciliated Protist Euplotes raikovi

Primary Structure and Coding Genes of Two Pheromones from the Antarctic Psychrophilic Ciliate, Euplotes focardii

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