Ubiquitin-like Atg8 protein is expressed during autophagy and the encystation process in Naegleria gruberi

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• 作者：Roberto Cárdenas-Zúñiga ; Virginia Sánchez-Monroy…
• 关键词：Atg8 protein ; Autophagy ; Encystation ; Naegleria gruberi ; Rapamycin
• 刊名：Parasitology Research
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：116
• 期：1
• 页码：303-312
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Immunology;
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：1432-1955
• 卷排序：116

文摘

Members of the Naegleria genus are free-living amoebae, and the only pathogenic specie described to date for humans is N. fowleri. However, as the complete genome of this specie has not been reported, non-pathogenic N. gruberi is employed to describe molecular pathways in N. fowleri. Regardless, certain mechanisms, such as autophagy, have not yet been characterized in N. gruberi. Autophagy is involved in different cellular processes in some protozoa, including the recycling of unnecessary organelles, development, and cell differentiation. In this work, we characterized autophagy in N. gruberi using the specific inducer rapamycin. The formation of autophagy vacuoles in treated trophozoites was observed by ultrastructural analysis, and real time quantitative PCR demonstrated overexpression of the atg8 gene. In addition, we detected an increase in the vacuolar acidification of treated amoebae using the LysoTracker. Finally, confocal microscopy was utilized to identify Atg8 protein signal in the cytoplasm of N. gruberi trophozoites induced with rapamycin and even in trophozoites induced to encyst. In conclusion, N. gruberi possesses an Atg8 protein homolog that is overexpressed during the autophagic mechanism induced by rapamycin and also during encystation of this free-living amoeba.