Stem–Loop Structures in Iron-Regulated mRNAs of Giardia duodenalis

Laura Y. Plata-Guzmán, Rossana Arroyo, Nidia León-Sicairos, Adrián Canizález-Román, Héctor S. López-Moreno, Jeanett Chávez-Ontiveros, José A. Garzón-Tiznado and Claudia León-Sicairos ()
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Laura Y. Plata-Guzmán: Programa Regional del Noroeste para el Posgrado en Biotecnología de la Facultad de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Av. de las Américas y Josefa Ortíz (Cd. Universitaria), Culiacán 80030, Mexico
Rossana Arroyo: Departamento de Infectómica y Patogénesis Molecular, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN (CINVESTAV-IPN), Av. IPN No. 2508, Colonia San Pedro Zacatenco, Mexico City 07360, Mexico
Nidia León-Sicairos: CIASaP Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Cedros y Sauces Frac. Fresnos, Culiacán 80246, Mexico
Adrián Canizález-Román: CIASaP Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Cedros y Sauces Frac. Fresnos, Culiacán 80246, Mexico
Héctor S. López-Moreno: Programa Regional del Noroeste para el Posgrado en Biotecnología de la Facultad de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Av. de las Américas y Josefa Ortíz (Cd. Universitaria), Culiacán 80030, Mexico
Jeanett Chávez-Ontiveros: Programa Regional del Noroeste para el Posgrado en Biotecnología de la Facultad de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Av. de las Américas y Josefa Ortíz (Cd. Universitaria), Culiacán 80030, Mexico
José A. Garzón-Tiznado: Programa Regional del Noroeste para el Posgrado en Biotecnología de la Facultad de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Av. de las Américas y Josefa Ortíz (Cd. Universitaria), Culiacán 80030, Mexico
Claudia León-Sicairos: Programa Regional del Noroeste para el Posgrado en Biotecnología de la Facultad de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Av. de las Américas y Josefa Ortíz (Cd. Universitaria), Culiacán 80030, Mexico

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Giardia duodenalis is a significant cause of waterborne and foodborne infections, day-care center outbreaks, and traveler’s diarrhea worldwide. In protozoa such as Trichomonas vaginalis and Entamoeba histolytica, iron affects the growth, pathogenicity mechanisms, and expression of virulence genes. One of the proposed iron regulatory mechanisms is at the post-transcriptional level through an IRE/IRP-like (iron responsive element/iron regulatory protein) system. Recently, the expression of many putative giardial virulence factors in the free-iron levels has been reported in subsequent RNAseq experiments; however, the iron regulatory mechanism remains unknown. Thus, this work aimed to determine the effects of iron on the growth, gene expression, and presence of IRE-like structures in G. duodenalis . First, the parasite’s growth kinetics at different iron concentrations were studied, and the cell viability was determined. It was observed that the parasite can adapt to an iron range from 7.7 to 500 µM; however, in conditions without iron, it is unable to survive in the culture medium. Additionally, the iron modulation of three genes was determined by RT-PCR assays. The results suggested that Actin , glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase , and cytochrome b5 mRNA were down-regulated by iron. To investigate the presence of IRE-like structures, in silico analyses were performed for different mRNAs from the Giardia genome database. The Zuker mfold v2.4 web server and theoretical analysis were used to predict the secondary structures of the 91 mRNAs analyzed. Interestingly, the iron-induced downregulation of the genes analyzed corresponds to the location of the stem–loop structures found in their UTR regions. In conclusion, iron modulates the growth and expression of specific genes, likely due to the presence of IRE-like structures in G. duodenalis mRNAs.

Keywords: Giardia duodenalis; foodborne disease; giardiasis etiology; anemia comorbidities; iron regulation; IREs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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