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Transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi cell populations

Trypanosoma cruzi has a complex life cycle comprising pools of cell populations which circulate among humans, vectors, sylvatic reservoirs and domestic animals. Recent experimental evidence has demonstrated the importance of clonal variations for parasite population dynamics, survival and evolution....

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Autores principales: Seco-Hidalgo, Víctor, De Pablos, Luis Miguel, Osuna, Antonio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4703061/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26674416
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.150190
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author Seco-Hidalgo, Víctor
De Pablos, Luis Miguel
Osuna, Antonio
author_facet Seco-Hidalgo, Víctor
De Pablos, Luis Miguel
Osuna, Antonio
author_sort Seco-Hidalgo, Víctor
collection PubMed
description Trypanosoma cruzi has a complex life cycle comprising pools of cell populations which circulate among humans, vectors, sylvatic reservoirs and domestic animals. Recent experimental evidence has demonstrated the importance of clonal variations for parasite population dynamics, survival and evolution. By limiting dilution assays, we have isolated seven isogenic clonal cell lines derived from the Pan4 strain of T. cruzi. Applying different molecular techniques, we have been able to provide a comprehensive characterization of the expression heterogeneity in the mucin-associated surface protein (MASP) gene family, where all the clonal isogenic populations were transcriptionally different. Hierarchical cluster analysis and sequence comparison among different MASP cDNA libraries showed that, despite the great variability in MASP expression, some members of the transcriptome (including MASP pseudogenes) are conserved, not only in the life-cycle stages but also among different strains of T. cruzi. Finally, other important aspects for the parasite, such as growth, spontaneous metacyclogenesis or excretion of different catabolites, were also compared among the clones, demonstrating that T. cruzi populations of cells are also phenotypically heterogeneous. Although the evolutionary strategy that sustains the MASP expression polymorphism remains unknown, we suggest that MASP clonal variability and phenotypic heterogeneities found in this study might provide an advantage, allowing a rapid response to environmental pressure or changes during the life cycle of T. cruzi.
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spelling pubmed-47030612016-01-08 Transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi cell populations Seco-Hidalgo, Víctor De Pablos, Luis Miguel Osuna, Antonio Open Biol Research Trypanosoma cruzi has a complex life cycle comprising pools of cell populations which circulate among humans, vectors, sylvatic reservoirs and domestic animals. Recent experimental evidence has demonstrated the importance of clonal variations for parasite population dynamics, survival and evolution. By limiting dilution assays, we have isolated seven isogenic clonal cell lines derived from the Pan4 strain of T. cruzi. Applying different molecular techniques, we have been able to provide a comprehensive characterization of the expression heterogeneity in the mucin-associated surface protein (MASP) gene family, where all the clonal isogenic populations were transcriptionally different. Hierarchical cluster analysis and sequence comparison among different MASP cDNA libraries showed that, despite the great variability in MASP expression, some members of the transcriptome (including MASP pseudogenes) are conserved, not only in the life-cycle stages but also among different strains of T. cruzi. Finally, other important aspects for the parasite, such as growth, spontaneous metacyclogenesis or excretion of different catabolites, were also compared among the clones, demonstrating that T. cruzi populations of cells are also phenotypically heterogeneous. Although the evolutionary strategy that sustains the MASP expression polymorphism remains unknown, we suggest that MASP clonal variability and phenotypic heterogeneities found in this study might provide an advantage, allowing a rapid response to environmental pressure or changes during the life cycle of T. cruzi. The Royal Society 2015-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4703061/ /pubmed/26674416 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.150190 Text en © 2015 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research
Seco-Hidalgo, Víctor
De Pablos, Luis Miguel
Osuna, Antonio
Transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi cell populations
title Transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi cell populations
title_full Transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi cell populations
title_fullStr Transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi cell populations
title_full_unstemmed Transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi cell populations
title_short Transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of Trypanosoma cruzi cell populations
title_sort transcriptional and phenotypical heterogeneity of trypanosoma cruzi cell populations
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4703061/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26674416
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.150190
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