Study of the differentially abundant proteins among Leishmania amazonensis, L. braziliensis, and L. infantum

PLoS One. 2020 Oct 15;15(10):e0240612. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240612. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Leishmaniasis has been considered as emerging and re-emerging disease, and its increasing global incidence has raised concerns. The great clinical diversity of the disease is mainly determined by the species. In several American countries, tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL) is associated with both Leishmania amazonensis and L. braziliensis, while visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is associated with L. (L.) infantum. The major molecules that determine the most diverse biological variations are proteins. In the present study, through a DIGE approach, we identified differentially abundant proteins among the species mentioned above. We observed a variety of proteins with differential abundance among the studied species; and the biological networks predicted for each species showed that many of these proteins interacted with each other. The prominent proteins included the heat shock proteins (HSPs) and the protein network involved in oxide reduction process in L. amazonensis, the protein network of ribosomes in L. braziliensis, and the proteins involved in energy metabolism in L. infantum. The important proteins, as revealed by the PPI network results, enrichment categories, and exclusive proteins analysis, were arginase, HSPs, and trypanothione reductase in L. amazonensis; enolase, peroxidoxin, and tryparedoxin1 in L. braziliensis; and succinyl-CoA ligase [GDP -forming] beta-chain and transaldolase in L. infantum.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology
  • Humans
  • Leishmania braziliensis / metabolism
  • Leishmania braziliensis / pathogenicity*
  • Leishmania infantum / metabolism
  • Leishmania infantum / pathogenicity*
  • Leishmania mexicana / metabolism
  • Leishmania mexicana / pathogenicity*
  • Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / parasitology*
  • Protein Interaction Mapping
  • Protein Interaction Maps
  • Protozoan Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Protozoan Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Protozoan Proteins

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais [PPM00129-17], Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Vacinas [CNPq-573547/ 2008-4/FAPEMIG/MS-CBB, APQ 00077-09] and Rede Mineira de Biomoléculas [CCBRED00012-14]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.