Abstract
Entamoeba histolytica represents a useful model in parasitic organisms due to its complex genomic organization and survival mechanisms. To counteract pathogenic organisms, it is necessary to characterize their molecular biology to design new strategies to combat them. In this report, we investigated a less-known genetic element, short interspersed nuclear element 2 (SINE2), that is present in this ameba and is highly transcribed and polyadenylated. In this study, we show that in two different nonvirulent strains of E. histolytica, SINE2 is differentially processed into two transcript fragments, that is, a full-length 560-nt fragment and a shorter 393-nt fragment bearing an approximately 18-nt polyadenylation tail. Sequence analysis of the SINE2 transcript showed that a Musashi-like protein may bind to it. Also, two putative Musashi-like sequences were identified on the transcript. Semiquantitative expression analysis of the two Musashi-like proteins identified in the E. histolytica genome (XP_648918 and XP_649094) showed that XP_64094 is overexpressed in the nonvirulent strains tested. The information available in the literature and the results presented in this report indicate that SINE2 may affect other genes, as observed with the epigenetic silencing of the G3 strain, by an antisense mechanism or via RNA–protein interactions that may ultimately be involved in the phenotype of nonvirulent strains of E. histolytica.
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Acknowledgements
Authors are grateful for the support by CONACyT/CIBIOGEM Grant Number 264456, and CONACyT Grant CB 182671. Additionally, for the support of the institutional grant from DAIP/Guanajuato University in the Convocatoria Institucional de Investigación Científica 2019. Additionally, authors are grateful for the constructive feedback provided by two anonymous reviewers that improve the manuscript greatly.
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P–V F and F B conceived and designed the study and acquired funding; V-M NI, R-M FB, D-G CJ, R-S A, P-P I performed the research; P–V F, A-V F and F B analyzed the data. P–V F and F B wrote the paper, and all authors approved the final version of the paper.
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Padilla-Vaca, F., Vargas-Maya, N.I., Ramírez-Montiel, F.B. et al. Possible role played by the SINE2 element in gene regulation, as demonstrated by differential processing and polyadenylation in avirulent strains of E. histolytica. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 114, 209–221 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-020-01504-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-020-01504-4