Post-transitional modification found in muscle larvae

Two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting have been used to compare excretory-secretory antigens of Trichinella spiralis and Trichinella britovi muscle larvae, finding post-transitional modification to occur in some of the proteins.

The study was able to reveal positive results which highlighted the value of 2-D DIGE as a versatile tool to compare secretomes of different Trichinella species for pinpointing factors contributing to the interaction with the host. Both 2-D DIGE and 2-DE immunoblotting approaches indicated that T. spiralis and T.britovi produce somewhat distinctive antigen profiles, which contain E-S antigens with potential as species-specific diagnostic markers for Trichinella.

According to the analysis, 17 proteins could be identified from a total of 22 that had been subject to analysis, of many were identified in multiple spots, suggesting that they have undergone post-translational modification, possibly involving glycosylation or proteolysis.

The findings also suggest that some of the commonly identified proteins were post-translationally modified to different extents, which in certain cases seemed to result in species-specific modification.

Published by Ben Evans