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More than just one: multiplicity of Hirudins and Hirudin-like Factors in the Medicinal Leech, Hirudo medicinalis

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Abstract

Blood-sucking leeches like the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, have been used for medical purposes since ancient times. During feeding, medicinal leeches transfer a broad range of bioactive substances into the host’s wound to prevent premature hemostasis and blood coagulation. Hirudin is probably the best known of these substances. Despite its long history of investigation, recombinant production and clinical use, there still exist conflicting data regarding the primary structure of hirudin. Entirely unclear is the potential biological significance of three different subtypes and many isoforms of hirudins that have been characterized so far. Furthermore, there is only incomplete information on their cDNA sequences and no information at all on gene structures and DNA sequences are available in the databases. Our efforts to fill these gaps revealed the presence of multiple hirudin-encoding genes in the genome of Hirudo medicinalis. We have strong evidence for the expression of all three subtypes of hirudin within individual leeches and for the expression of additional hirudins or hirudin-like factors that may have different biological functions and may be promising candidates for new drugs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank to Detlef Menzel (Futura-Egel-Zucht, Potsdam) for providing the animals. We are thankful to the reviewers and the editor for their constructive and helpful comments. Sarah Lemke received a doctoral stipend from the Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Physiology and Biochemistry, Zoological Institute and Museum, Ernst Moritz Arndt-University, Greifswald, Germany

    Christian Müller, Katharina Mescke, Stephanie Liebig, Sarah Lemke & Jan-Peter Hildebrandt

  2. Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medicine, Greifswald, Germany

    Hala Mahfoud

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  1. Christian Müller
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  2. Katharina Mescke
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  3. Stephanie Liebig
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  4. Hala Mahfoud
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  5. Sarah Lemke
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Correspondence to Christian Müller.

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We declare that the experiments described in this paper comply with the current laws in Germany. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Communicated by S. Hohmann.

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Müller, C., Mescke, K., Liebig, S. et al. More than just one: multiplicity of Hirudins and Hirudin-like Factors in the Medicinal Leech, Hirudo medicinalis . Mol Genet Genomics 291, 227–240 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-015-1100-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-015-1100-0

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