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Langleib M, Calvelo J, Costábile A, Castillo E, Tort JF, Hoffmann FG, Protasio AV, Koziol U, Iriarte A. Evolutionary analysis of species-specific duplications in flatworm genomes. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2024; 199:108141. [PMID: 38964593 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2023] [Revised: 06/15/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/06/2024]
Abstract
Platyhelminthes, also known as flatworms, is a phylum of bilaterian invertebrates infamous for their parasitic representatives. The classes Cestoda, Monogenea, and Trematoda comprise parasitic helminths inhabiting multiple hosts, including fishes, humans, and livestock, and are responsible for considerable economic damage and burden on human health. As in other animals, the genomes of flatworms have a wide variety of paralogs, genes related via duplication, whose origins could be mapped throughout the evolution of the phylum. Through in-silico analysis, we studied inparalogs, i.e., species-specific duplications, focusing on their biological functions, expression changes, and evolutionary rate. These genes are thought to be key players in the adaptation process of species to each particular niche. Our results showed that genes related with specific functional terms, such as response to stress, transferase activity, oxidoreductase activity, and peptidases, are overrepresented among inparalogs. This trend is conserved among species from different classes, including free-living species. Available expression data from Schistosoma mansoni, a parasite from the trematode class, demonstrated high conservation of expression patterns between inparalogs, but with notable exceptions, which also display evidence of rapid evolution. We discuss how natural selection may operate to maintain these genes and the particular duplication models that fit better to the observations. Our work supports the critical role of gene duplication in the evolution of flatworms, representing the first study of inparalogs evolution at the genome-wide level in this group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauricio Langleib
- Laboratorio de Biología Computacional, Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay; Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Javier Calvelo
- Laboratorio de Biología Computacional, Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Alicia Costábile
- Sección Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Estela Castillo
- Laboratorio de Biología Parasitaria, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - José F Tort
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Federico G Hoffmann
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology, and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi, United States of America; Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi, United States of America
| | - Anna V Protasio
- Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, CB2 1QP, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Uriel Koziol
- Sección Biología Celular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Andrés Iriarte
- Laboratorio de Biología Computacional, Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
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Domínguez MF, Costábile A, Koziol U, Preza M, Brehm K, Tort JF, Castillo E. Cell repertoire and proliferation of germinative cells of the model cestode Mesocestoides corti. Parasitology 2022; 149:1505-1514. [PMID: 35787303 PMCID: PMC11010542 DOI: 10.1017/s0031182022000956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The phylum Platyhelminthes shares a unique population of undifferentiated cells responsible for the proliferation capacity needed for cell renewal, growth, tissue repair and regeneration. These cells have been extensively studied in free-living flatworms, whereas in cestodes the presence of a set of undifferentiated cells, known as germinative cells, has been demonstrated in classical morphology studies, but poorly characterized with molecular biology approaches. Furthermore, several genes have been identified as neoblast markers in free-living flatworms that deserve study in cestode models. Here, different cell types of the model cestode Mesocestoides corti were characterized, identifying differentiated and germinative cells. Muscle cells, tegumental cells, calcareous corpuscle precursor cells and excretory system cells were identified, all of which are non-proliferative, differentiated cell types. Besides those, germinative cells were identified as a population of small cells with proliferative capacity in vivo. Primary cell culture experiments in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM), Echinococcus hydatid fluid and hepatocyte conditioned media in non-reductive or reductive conditions confirmed that the germinative cells were the only ones with proliferative capacity. Since several genes have been identified as markers of undifferentiated neoblast cells in free-living flatworms, the expression of pumilio and pL10 genes was analysed by qPCR and in situ hybridization, showing that the expression of these genes was stronger in germinative cells but not restricted to this cell type. This study provides the first tools to analyse and further characterise undifferentiated cells in a model cestode.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Fernanda Domínguez
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Alicia Costábile
- Sección Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Uriel Koziol
- Sección Biología Celular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Matías Preza
- Sección Biología Celular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Klaus Brehm
- University of Würzburg, Institute of Hygiene and Microbiology, Würzburg, Germany
| | - José F. Tort
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Estela Castillo
- Sección Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
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Preza M, Calvelo J, Langleib M, Hoffmann F, Castillo E, Koziol U, Iriarte A. Stage-specific transcriptomic analysis of the model cestode Hymenolepis microstoma. Genomics 2021; 113:620-632. [PMID: 33485950 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2021.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Revised: 12/20/2020] [Accepted: 01/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Most parasitic flatworms go through different life stages with important physiological and morphological changes. In this work, we used a transcriptomic approach to analyze the main life-stages of the model tapeworm Hymenolepis microstoma (eggs, cysticercoids, and adults). Our results showed massive transcriptomic changes in this life cycle, including key gene families that contribute substantially to the expression load in each stage. In particular, different members of the cestode-specific hydrophobic ligand-binding protein (HLBP) family are among the most highly expressed genes in each life stage. We also found the transcriptomic signature of major metabolic changes during the transition from cysticercoids to adult worms. Thus, this work contributes to uncovering the gene expression changes that accompany the development of this important cestode model species, and to the best of our knowledge represents the first transcriptomic study with robust replicates spanning all of the main life stages of a tapeworm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matías Preza
- Sección Biología Celular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay
| | - Javier Calvelo
- Sección Biología Celular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay; Laboratorio Biología Computacional, Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11600, Uruguay
| | - Mauricio Langleib
- Laboratorio Biología Computacional, Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11600, Uruguay
| | - Federico Hoffmann
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology, and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, MS 39762, United States
| | - Estela Castillo
- Sección Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay
| | - Uriel Koziol
- Sección Biología Celular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay.
| | - Andrés Iriarte
- Laboratorio Biología Computacional, Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11600, Uruguay.
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Choi YJ, Fontenla S, Fischer PU, Le TH, Costábile A, Blair D, Brindley PJ, Tort JF, Cabada MM, Mitreva M. Adaptive Radiation of the Flukes of the Family Fasciolidae Inferred from Genome-Wide Comparisons of Key Species. Mol Biol Evol 2020; 37:84-99. [PMID: 31501870 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Liver and intestinal flukes of the family Fasciolidae cause zoonotic food-borne infections that impact both agriculture and human health throughout the world. Their evolutionary history and the genetic basis underlying their phenotypic and ecological diversity are not well understood. To close that knowledge gap, we compared the whole genomes of Fasciola hepatica, Fasciola gigantica, and Fasciolopsis buski and determined that the split between Fasciolopsis and Fasciola took place ∼90 Ma in the late Cretaceous period, and that between 65 and 50 Ma an intermediate host switch and a shift from intestinal to hepatic habitats occurred in the Fasciola lineage. The rapid climatic and ecological changes occurring during this period may have contributed to the adaptive radiation of these flukes. Expansion of cathepsins, fatty-acid-binding proteins, protein disulfide-isomerases, and molecular chaperones in the genus Fasciola highlights the significance of excretory-secretory proteins in these liver-dwelling flukes. Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica diverged ∼5 Ma near the Miocene-Pliocene boundary that coincides with reduced faunal exchange between Africa and Eurasia. Severe decrease in the effective population size ∼10 ka in Fasciola is consistent with a founder effect associated with its recent global spread through ruminant domestication. G-protein-coupled receptors may have key roles in adaptation of physiology and behavior to new ecological niches. This study has provided novel insights about the genome evolution of these important pathogens, has generated genomic resources to enable development of improved interventions and diagnosis, and has laid a solid foundation for genomic epidemiology to trace drug resistance and to aid surveillance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Young-Jun Choi
- McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
| | - Santiago Fontenla
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Peter U Fischer
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
| | - Thanh Hoa Le
- Immunology Department, Institute of Biotechnology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Alicia Costábile
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - David Blair
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
| | - Paul J Brindley
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, and Research Center for Neglected Diseases of Poverty, School of Medicine & Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC
| | - Jose F Tort
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Miguel M Cabada
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
| | - Makedonka Mitreva
- McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO.,Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
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