TY  - JOUR
A1  - Förster, Frank
A1  - Beisser, Daniela
A1  - Grohme, Markus A.
A1  - Liang, Chunguang
A1  - Mali, Brahim
A1  - Siegl, Alexander Matthias
A1  - Engelmann, Julia C.
A1  - Shkumatov, Alexander V.
A1  - Schokraie, Elham
A1  - Müller, Tobias
A1  - Schnölzer, Martina
A1  - Schill, Ralph O.
A1  - Frohme, Marcus
A1  - Dandekar, Thomas
T1  - Transcriptome analysis in tardigrade species reveals specific molecular pathways for stress adaptations
JF  - Bioinformatics and biology insights
N2  - Tardigrades have unique stress-adaptations that allow them to survive extremes of cold, heat, radiation and vacuum. To study this, encoded protein clusters and pathways from an ongoing transcriptome study on the tardigrade \(Milnesium\) \(tardigradum\) were analyzed using bioinformatics tools and compared to expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from \(Hypsibius\) \(dujardini\), revealing major pathways involved in resistance against extreme environmental conditions. ESTs are available on the Tardigrade Workbench along with software and databank updates. Our analysis reveals that RNA stability motifs for \(M.\) \(tardigradum\) are different from typical motifs known from higher animals. \(M.\) \(tardigradum\) and \(H.\) \(dujardini\) protein clusters and conserved domains imply metabolic storage pathways for glycogen, glycolipids and specific secondary metabolism as well as stress response pathways (including heat shock proteins, bmh2, and specific repair pathways). Redox-, DNA-, stress- and protein protection pathways complement specific repair capabilities to achieve the strong robustness of \(M.\) \(tardigradum\). These pathways are partly conserved in other animals and their manipulation could boost stress adaptation even in human cells. However, the unique combination of resistance and repair pathways make tardigrades and \(M.\) \(tardigradum\) in particular so highly stress resistant.
KW  - RNA
KW  - expressed sequence tag
KW  - cluster
KW  - protein familiy
KW  - adaption
KW  - tardigrada
KW  - transcriptome
Y1  - 2012
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-123089
N1  - This is an open access article. Unrestricted non-commercial use is permitted provided the original work is properly cited.
VL  - 6
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ratzka, Carolin
A1  - Förster, Frank
A1  - Liang, Chunguang
A1  - Kupper, Maria
A1  - Dandekar, Thomas
A1  - Feldhaar, Heike
A1  - Gross, Roy
T1  - Molecular characterization of antimicrobial peptide genes of the carpenter ant Camponotus floridanus
N2  - The production of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is a major defense mechanism against pathogen infestation and of particular importance for insects relying exclusively on an innate immune system. Here, we report on the characterization of three AMPs from the carpenter ant Camponotus floridanus. Due to sequence similarities and amino acid composition these peptides can be classified into the cysteine-rich (e.g. defensin) and glycine-rich (e.g. hymenoptaecin) AMP groups, respectively. The gene and cDNA sequences of these AMPs were established and their expression was shown to be induced by microbial challenge. We characterized two different defensin genes. The defensin-2 gene has a single intron, whereas the defensin-1 gene has two introns. The deduced amino acid sequence of the C. floridanus defensins is very similar to other known ant defensins with the exception of a short C-terminal extension of defensin-1. The hymenoptaecin gene has a single intron and a very peculiar domain structure. The corresponding precursor protein consists of a signal- and a pro-sequence followed by a hymenoptaecin-like domain and six directly repeated hymenoptaecin domains. Each of the hymenoptaecin domains is flanked by an EAEP-spacer sequence and a RR-site known to be a proteolytic processing site. Thus, proteolytic processing of the multipeptide precursor may generate several mature AMPs leading to an amplification of the immune response. Bioinformatical analyses revealed the presence of hymenoptaecin genes with similar multipeptide precursor structure in genomes of other ant species suggesting an evolutionary conserved important role of this gene in ant immunity.
KW  - Biologie
KW  - Camponotus floridanus
Y1  - 2012
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75985
ER  -