Lien vers Pubmed [PMID] – 15287584
Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 2004 May;135(1):31-8
Capping followed by uroid formation in Entamoeba histolytica has been implicated in resistance against the host immune response during development of amoebiasis. The amebic actomyosin cytoskeleton is essential for such a process. A protein from the spectrin family co-localizes with the Gal-GalNAc lectin during capping of this surface protein complex. Co-localization is not observed when capping of the Gal-GalNAc lectin is specifically inhibited by production of the carboxyl-terminal region of its heavy chain that includes the lectin cytoplasmic tail. A peptide encompassing the lectin last 77 amino acids fused to glutathione-S-transferase interacts in vitro with purified spectrin. The spectrin-binding site was narrowed down to a stretch of 21 amino acids within the lectin cytoplasmic domain. This is the first report identifying an amino acid sequence involved in the interaction between the Gal-GalNAc lectin and cytoskeletal spectrin.