Sera of Chagasic patients react with antigens from the tomato parasite Phytomonas serpens

• Main Authors: Viviane K Graça-de Souza, Viviane Monteiro-Góes, Patrício Manque, Tatiana A.C.B Souza, Paulo R.C. Corrêa, Gregory A Buck, Andréa R Ávila, Lucy M Yamauchi, Phileno Pinge-Filho, Samuel Goldenberg, Marco A Krieger, Sueli F Yamada-Ogatta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2010-01-01
• Series: Biological Research
• Subjects: Phytomonas serpens; Trypanosoma cruzi; antigenic cross-reactivity; trypanosomatids
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-97602010000200011

The genus Phytomonas comprises trypanosomatids that can parasitize a broad range of plant species. These fagellates can cause diseases in some plant families with a wide geographic distribution, which can result in great economic losses. We have demonstrated previously that Phytomonas serpens 15T, a tomato trypanosomatid, shares antigens with Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of human Chagas disease. Herein, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry (MS) were used to identify proteins of P. serpens 15T that are recognized by sera from patients with Chagas disease. After 2D-electrophoresis of whole-cell lysates, 31 peptides were selected and analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry. Twenty-eight polypeptides were identifed, resulting in 22 different putative proteins. The identifed proteins were classifed into 8 groups according to biological process, most of which were clustered into a cellular metabolic process category. These results generated a collection of proteins that can provide a starting point to obtain insights into antigenic cross reactivity among trypanosomatids and to explore P. serpens antigens as candidates for vaccine and immunologic diagnosis studies.