Acanthamoeba castellanii STAT protein

PLoS One. 2014 Oct 22;9(10):e111345. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111345. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

STAT (signal transducers and activators of transcription) proteins are one of the important mediators of phosphotyrosine-regulated signaling in metazoan cells. We described the presence of STAT protein in a unicellular, free-living amoebae with a simple life cycle, Acanthamoeba castellanii. A. castellanii is the only, studied to date, Amoebozoan that does not belong to Mycetozoa but possesses STATs. A sequence of the A. castellanii STAT protein includes domains similar to those of the Dictyostelium STAT proteins: a coiled coil (characteristic for Dictyostelium STAT coiled coil), a STAT DNA-binding domain and a Src-homology domain. The search for protein sequences homologous to A. castellanii STAT revealed 17 additional sequences from lower eukaryotes. Interestingly, all of these sequences come from Amoebozoa organisms that belong to either Mycetozoa (slime molds) or Centramoebida. We showed that there are four separated clades within the slime mold STAT proteins. The A. castellanii STAT protein branches next to a group of STATc proteins from Mycetozoa. We also demonstrate that Amoebozoa form a distinct monophyletic lineage within the STAT protein world that is well separated from the other groups.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acanthamoeba castellanii / classification
  • Acanthamoeba castellanii / genetics
  • Acanthamoeba castellanii / metabolism*
  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Consensus Sequence
  • DNA, Complementary / chemistry
  • DNA, Complementary / genetics
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs
  • STAT Transcription Factors / chemistry
  • STAT Transcription Factors / genetics
  • STAT Transcription Factors / metabolism*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • DNA, Complementary
  • STAT Transcription Factors

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the PARENT/BRIDGE programme 2010-1/3 grant by Foundation for Polish Science, co-financed by the European Union from structural funds within Action 1.2 “Strengthening the personnel potential of science” POIG 2007-2013 to AK and partially supported by KNOW Poznan RNA Centre, 01/KNOW2/2014. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.