| Literature DB >> 27381333 |
Natalya Kraeva1, Eva Horáková2, Alexei Y Kostygov3, Luděk Kořený4, Anzhelika Butenko1, Vyacheslav Yurchenko5, Julius Lukeš6.
Abstract
The catalase gene is a virtually ubiquitous component of the eukaryotic genomes. It is also present in the monoxenous (i.e. parasitizing solely insects) trypanosomatids of the subfamily Leishmaniinae, which have acquired the enzyme by horizontal gene transfer from a bacterium. However, as shown here, the catalase gene was secondarily lost from the genomes of all Leishmania sequenced so far. Due to the potentially key regulatory role of hydrogen peroxide in the inter-stagial transformation of Leishmania spp., this loss seems to be a necessary prerequisite for the emergence of a complex life cycle of these important human pathogens. Hence, in this group of protists, the advantages of keeping catalase were uniquely outweighed by its disadvantages.Entities:
Keywords: Catalase; Gene loss; Leishmania; Trypanosomatids
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Year: 2016 PMID: 27381333 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2016.06.054
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Infect Genet Evol ISSN: 1567-1348 Impact factor: 3.342