Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme genes in Oesophagostomum dentatum.

Full-length genes representing different isoforms of the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme UBC-2 were isolated from Oesophagostomum dentatum, cloned and sequenced. The alignment of their sequences (designated Od-ubc-2.1 to Od-ubc-2.3) revealed nucleotide variation at three positions within the predicted open reading frame of 444 bp. Substitutions were at positions 141 (A<-->G), 142 (A<-->G) and 296 (T<-->C). Both former substitutions resulted in amino acid changes from a glycine residue to an arginine residue, whereas the latter resulted in a change from isoleucine to threonine. Comparison of predicted OD-UBC-2 with UBC-2 (protein) homologues/orthologues from 12 other species representing nematodes, Drosophila melanogaster, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mice and humans revealed identities between species varying from 77 to 100% at the amino acid level, and motifs associated with protein conformation and function were identified. While the function of a representative ubc-2 gene from O. dentatum could not be established in C. elegans, it is likely to play a key role in the catabolism of proteins and in the development of O. dentatum.