Rhoptry-associated protein (rap-1) genes in the sheep pathogen Babesia sp. Xinjiang: Multiple transcribed copies differing by 3' end repeated sequences.
Sheep babesiosis occurs mainly in tropical and subtropical areas. The sheep parasite Babesia sp. Xinjiang is widespread in China, and our goal is to characterize rap-1 (rhoptry-associated protein 1) gene diversity and expression as a first step of a long term goal aiming at developing a recombinant subunit vaccine. Seven different rap-1a genes were amplified in Babesia sp. Xinjiang, using degenerate primers designed from conserved motifs. Rap-1b and rap-1c gene types could not be identified. In all seven rap-1a genes, the 5' regions exhibited identical sequences over 936 nt, and the 3' regions differed at 28 positions over 147 nt, defining two types of genes designated α and β. The remaining 3' part varied from 72 to 360 nt in length, depending on the gene. This region consists of a succession of two to ten 36 nt repeats, which explains the size differences. Even if the nucleotide sequences varied, 6 repeats encoded the same stretch of amino acids. Transcription of at least four α and two β genes was demonstrated by standard RT-PCR.
['Niu|Qingli|Q|', 'Marchand|Jordan|J|', 'Yang|Congshan|C|', 'Bonsergent|Claire|C|', 'Guan|Guiquan|G|', 'Yin|Hong|H|', 'Malandrin|Laurence|L|']
D024509:3' Flanking Region D000595:Amino Acid Sequence D000818:Animals D001403:Babesia D001404:Babesiosis D001483:Base Sequence D017124:Conserved Sequence D021901:DNA, Intergenic D005786:Gene Expression Regulation D018503:Genome, Protozoan D008969:Molecular Sequence Data D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic D015800:Protozoan Proteins D012756:Sheep D012757:Sheep Diseases
Sheep Babesia Rhoptry-associated protein 1 Amino acid repeats Multigene family