Are Dermatophyte Serpins Pathogenic Factors?

By Marc Cortese
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Published: Jan. 13, 2013
Words: 8,710 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781301676170

Short description

Athlete's foot, jock itch and ringworm are just a few of the maladies caused by dermatophyte fungi that can grow on our skin. This highly technical eBook tells how a potential dermatophyte pathogenic factor, a protein, was uncovered using bioinformatic methods. This eBook is meant for researchers of pathogenic fungi. It contains five figures, three tables and just over 9,000 words.

Extended description

Athlete's foot, jock itch and ringworm are just a few of the maladies caused by fungi that can grow on our skin. Why do we continue to be plagued by these fungi in this era of advanced medicine? One reason is that we do not know precisely what allows this group of fungi, known as the dermatophytes, to live on our bodies. The tools that dermatophyte fungi use to infect us are known a pathogenic factors. These factors can be chemical compounds or proteins that are made from instructions contained in the genomes of these fungi. So how can that help us? Well, we live the genetic era and the complete sequences of hundreds of living things are known – including many nasty fungi like dermatophytes. If we look into the genomes of dermatophytes, can we find anything that we can identify as part of their infection tool box?

This eBook tells how one potential pathogenic factor, a protein, was uncovered using bioinformatic methods. The next step towards the development of possible improved tr.. (Read more) Athlete's foot, jock itch and ringworm are just a few of the maladies caused by fungi that can grow on our skin. Why do we continue to be plagued by these fungi in this era of advanced medicine? One reason is that we do not know precisely what allows this group of fungi, known as the dermatophytes, to live on our bodies. The tools that dermatophyte fungi use to infect us are known a pathogenic factors. These factors can be chemical compounds or proteins that are made from instructions contained in the genomes of these fungi. So how can that help us? Well, we live the genetic era and the complete sequences of hundreds of living things are known – including many nasty fungi like dermatophytes. If we look into the genomes of dermatophytes, can we find anything that we can identify as part of their infection tool box?

This eBook tells how one potential pathogenic factor, a protein, was uncovered using bioinformatic methods. The next step towards the development of possible improved treatments for dermatophyte fungal diseases would be to test the hypothesis developed here.

This highly technical eBook is meant for researchers of pathogenic fungi. It contains five figures, three tables and just over 9,000 words.

Links to full size color illustrations are provided for readers with small format and/or black and white devices.

Synopsis

All sequenced dermatophytes contain serpin sequences in spite of the fact that serpins are rare in fungi. Of 231 sequenced fungal genomes, only 17 contained serpins. Dermatophyte serpins are characterized by a 16 residue reactive center loop (RCL) with arginine in the P1 position and cysteine or serine in the P'1 position. This serpin type appears to be present in six other evolutionarily related fungal species and three single celled eukaryotes but not among the 21 other serpins found in more distantly related fungal species. Interestingly, serpins appear to be undergoing loss in a related group, the dimorphic fungi. Potential human targets for dermatophyte serpins are those proteases inhibited by endogenously secreted serpins with arginine in the P1 position of the RCL. These include antithrombin-III, serpin A9, plasma serine protease inhibitor and both plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 and 2. The protease targets of these human serpins control processes related to infection such as inflammation, coagulation and fibrinolysis. Interfering with the control of these host responses may benefit dermatophytes by allowing greater access to nutrients, protection from the immune system and inflammation reduction, all of which would enable establishment and persistence of infection.
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Tags

health, research, bioinformatics, dermatophyte, pathogenic factor, serpin

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