Abstract
In green algae, striated fiber assemblin (SFA) is the major protein of the striated microtubule-associated fibers that are structural elements in the flagellar basal apparatus. Using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) searches of recently established databases, SFA-like sequences were detected in the genomes not only of green algal species but also of a range of other protists. These included species in two alveolate subgroups, the ciliates (Tetrahymena thermophila, Paramecium tetraurelia) and the dinoflagellates (Perkinsus marinus), and two stramenopile subgroups, the oomycetes (Phytophthora sojae, Phytophthora ramorum, Phytophthora infestans) and the diatoms (Thalassiosira pseudonana, Phaeodactylum tricornutum). Together with earlier identification of SFA-like sequences in the apicomplexans, these results indicate that homologs of SFA are present across the alveolates and stramenopiles. Antibodies raised against SFA from the green alga, Spermatozopsis similis, react in immunofluorescence assays with the two basal bodies and an anteriorly directed striated fiber in the flagellar apparatus of biflagellate Phytophthora zoospores.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Frank Gubler for providing the image in Fig. 1e. This work was partially funded by a special studies program and a multidisciplinary grant from Charles Sturt University to JDIH.
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Supplementary Fig. 1
Protein sequences were aligned using ClustalW. The maximum parsimony phylogram was generated with 1,000 bootstrap replicates using Phylo_win. Bootstrap values below 50% are indicated by an asterisk. Database accession numbers for genes included are as follows. S. similis, P55925 (NCBI); Dunaliella bioculata, P54214 (NCBI); Chlamydomonas moewusii, Q39490 (NCBI); Volvox carteri, 84701 (JGI); Chlamydomonas incerta, ABA01157 (NCBI); C. reinhardtii, XP_001690415 (NCBI); T. gondii 2, EEB00658 (NCBI); Plasmodium vivax 2, XP_001616646 (NCBI); Plasmodium falciparum 2, XP_001348485 (NCBI); Plasmodium yoelii 1, XP_725411 (NCBI); Plasmodium chabaudi, XP_745246 (NCBI); Cryptosporidium hominis, XP_667226 (NCBI); Cryptosporidium parvum, XP_627703 (NCBI); T. gondii 1, EEB03522 (NCBI); T. gondii 3, EEB04771 (NCBI); Babesia bovis, XP_001609905 (NCBI); Theileria parva, XP_763828 (NCBI); Theileria annulata, XP_952869 (NCBI); Plasmodium knowlesi, CAQ37983 (NCBI); Plasmodium vivax 1, XP_001608587 (NCBI); Plasmodium yoelii 2, XP_726111 (NCBI); Plasmodium falciparum 1, XP_001349482 (NCBI); G. lamblia α-giardin, AAA29150 (NCBI); G. lamblia ß-giardin, ABU56094 (NCBI); T. thermophila, XP_001471150 (NCBI); P. tetraurelia XP_001432134 (NCBI); T. pseudonana, 23177 (JGI); P. infestans, PITG_01027.1 (Broad); P. ramorum, 81943 (JGI); P. sojae, 128807 (JGI); Ostreococcus lucimarinus XP_001418968 (NCBI); P. tricornutum XP_002185486 (NCBI); and P. marinus 2655 (TIGR). Note that the prasinophyte Ostreococcus lucimarinus and the pennate diatom P. tricornutum both lack flagella but have retained SFA-like sequences (GIF 137 kb)
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Harper, J.D.I., Thuet, J., Lechtreck, K.F. et al. Proteins related to green algal striated fiber assemblin are present in stramenopiles and alveolates. Protoplasma 236, 97–101 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-009-0041-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-009-0041-z