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PMID: 2793936 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

The major component of the paraflagellar rod of Trypanosoma brucei is a helical protein that is encoded by two identical, tandemly linked genes.

The Journal of cell biology ·Vol. 109 ·No. 4 Pt 1 ·1989-10-00 ·Pages 1695-709

Schlaeppi K, Deflorin J, Seebeck T

Abstract

The flagellum of the parasitic hemoflagellate Trypanosoma brucei contains two major structures: (a) the microtubule axoneme, and (b) a highly ordered, filamentous array, the paraflagellar rod (PFR). This is a complex, three-dimensional structure, of yet unknown function, that extends along most of the axoneme and is closely linked to it. Its major structural component is a single protein of 600 amino acids. This PFR protein can assume two different conformations, resulting in two distinct bands of apparent molecular masses of 73 and 69 kD in SDS-gel electrophoresis. Secondary structure predictions indicate a very high helix content. Despite its biochemical similarity to the intermediate filament proteins (solubility properties, amino acid composition, and high degree of helicity), the PFR protein does not belong in this class of cytoskeletal proteins. The PFR protein is coded for by two tandemly linked genes of identical nucleotide sequence. Both genes are transcribed into stable mRNAs of very similar length that carry the mini-exon sequence at their 5' termini.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Animals Base Sequence Blotting, Southern DNA/genetics Flagella/ultrastructure Genes Genetic Linkage Genomic Library Molecular Sequence Data Nucleic Acid Hybridization Oligonucleotide Probes Protozoan Proteins/genetics,isolation & purification Restriction Mapping Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid Trypanosoma brucei brucei/genetics,ultrastructure
Chemicals
Oligonucleotide Probes Protozoan Proteins paraflagellar rod proteins, Trypanosoma brucei DNA
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Schlaeppi K
Institut für Allgemeine Mikrobiologie, Bern, Switzerland.
Deflorin J
Seebeck T
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Article Info
Journal
The Journal of cell biology
Abbr.
J Cell Biol
ISSN
0021-9525
DOI
10.1083/jcb.109.4.1695
Published
1989-10-00
Pages
1695-709
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0375356
PMCID
PMC2115804
Subset
IM
Databases
GENBANK
X14819
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1083/jcb.109.4.1695 PMC Full Text View journal details
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