Schistosoma haematobium and S. japonicum: Analysis of the ribosomal RNA genes and determination of the "gap" boundaries and sequences

Prema M. Mertz, Libuse A. Bobek, David M. Rekosh, Philip T. LoVerde

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have determined the intragenic organization of the rRNA genes of Schistosoma haematobium and S. japonicum and found them to be similar to that of S. mansoni and other eukaryotes. An entire ribosomal repeat approximately 10 kbp in size from each species was isolated as a SalI fragment from a genomic library constructed in bacteriophage λ. The segments encoding both the small and large rRNAs have been identified using three cloned EcoRI fragments of S. mansoni as probes. There were three EcoRI fragments (4.2, 3.0, 1.6 kbp) from S. haematobium and four EcoRI fragments (4.6, 2.3, 1.7, 1.0 kbp) from S. japonicum. As in a wide variety of organisms within the protostome phyla, the 28S rRNA in schistosomes contains a "gap" which separates it into two fragments. The length of the gap sequence in S. haematobium is 54 bases and it is identical to that in S. mansoni in both length and sequence. However, in S. japonicum the sequence is between 64-67 bases long. In each case, irrespective of the species, the gap is located at the same position within the 28S rRNA. Secondary structures of the gap sequence derived by computer analysis predict a conformation with the minimum free energy that has an UAAU tract in a hairpin loop for S. haematobium and an UAUU tract for S. japonicum.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)137-149
Number of pages13
JournalExperimental Parasitology
Volume73
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1991
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Gap sequences
  • Gene organization
  • Schistosoma haematobium
  • Schistosoma japonicum 28S rRNA

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Infectious Diseases
  • Parasitology
  • Immunology

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