Disease relevance of Crithidia

• Eukaryotic RNases H from Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Crithidia fasciculata , unlike the related Escherichia coli RNase HI, contain a non-RNase H domain with a common motif [1].
• All immune sera taken after the fourth immunization from both groups reacted strongly with polyomavirus BK dsDNA as well as with calf thymus dsDNA, and all sera contained antibodies that bound in the Crithidia luciliae assay [2].
• Toxicity of 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide for Crithidia fasciculata [3].
• The biopterin (Crithidia activity) content of several cell lines of human neuroblastoma was quantified [4].
• Ninety-seven sera, 58 from patients with SLE and 39 from patients with other autoimmune rheumatic diseases were tested for anti-ds-DNA antibody activity by ELISA, Farr, and Crithidia Lucilliae assays [5].

High impact information on Crithidia

• Localization of a type II DNA topoisomerase to two sites at the periphery of the kinetoplast DNA of Crithidia fasciculata [6].
• To determine the structural features responsible for the curvature of kinetoplast DNA, we studied 13 adenine tracts in Crithidia fasciculata kinetoplast DNA [7].
• In the presence of functional RT (from human L1, yeast Tyl or Crithidia CRE1), and in the absence of homologous recombination, an HO endonuclease-induced DSB at the mating type (MAT) locus is the primary site at which a marked cDNA is observed among surviving cells [8].
• Although the COIII gene encoding cytochrome c oxidase subunit III in Trypanosoma brucei is edited along its entire length, the presumably homologous genes in two related trypanosomes, Leishmania tarentolae and Crithidia fasciculata, are only modestly edited at their 5' ends [9].
• The cofactor was purified from the insect trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata and identified as a novel glutathione-spermidine conjugate, N1,N8-bis(L-gamma-glutamyl-L-hemicystinyl-glycyl)spermidine, for which the trivial name trypanothione is proposed [10].

Biological context of Crithidia

• In normal human serum (NHS), axenic promastigotes of Crithidia, Phytomonas, and Leishmania trigger complement activation, and from 1.2 to 1.8 x 10(5) C3 molecules are deposited per promastigote within 2.5 min [11].
• To increase our understanding of the mechanism of this process we have compared the nucleotide sequence of the frameshifted mitochondrial MURF3 gene from Crithidia fasciculata to that of a large number of MURF3 cDNAs [12].
• A sequence-specific single-stranded DNA-binding protein from the trypanosomatid protozoan Crithidia fasciculata binds to a sequence of 12 nucleotides located at the origin of replication of kinetoplast DNA minicircles [13].
• The Crithidia fasciculata cycling sequence binding protein (CSBP) binds with high specificity to sequence elements in several mRNAs that accumulate periodically during the cell cycle [14].
• The consumption of glucose by trypanosomatid protozoa such as Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania spp., and Crithidia spp. is characterized by the excretion of reduced products such as succinate, pyruvate, ethanol, L-alanine, or lactate (depending on the species) not only in anaerobiosis, but also under aerobic conditions [15].

Anatomical context of Crithidia

• A DNA polymerase beta in the mitochondrion of the trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata [16].
• Crithidia fasciculata cells incubated with [14C]glucose or membranes derived from the same protozoan incubated with GDP-[14C]mannose were found to synthesize a lipid monophosphate mannose [17].
• We discovered that topoisomerase II catalytic activity in 1.0 M NaCl nuclear extracts from the HL-60/MX2 variant, as measured by the decatenation of Crithidia fasciculata kinetoplast DNA, was reduced 4- to 5-fold compared to that in the parental HL-60 cells [18].
• Pyruvate kinases of Crithidia luciliae and of Leishmania major, two trypanosomatids which are like T. brucei in containing glycosomes, were also stimulated by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate and inhibited by phosphate [19].
• Crithidia fasciculata ribosomes were found to be 80S and to dissociate into 58 and 41S subunits; on 5 to 50% sucrose gradients, rRNA was separated into 25, 18, and 5S components [20].

Associations of Crithidia with chemical compounds

• To identify proteins associated with the condensed form of kDNA in the cell, proteins were reversibly crosslinked to kDNA in whole cells of Crithidia fasciculata by formaldehyde treatment [21].
• Cells of the insect parasite Crithidia fasciculata incubated with [14C]glucose were found to possess only one lipid-bound oligosaccharide with solubility in chloroform/methanol/water mixtures and net charge similar to the charges of dolichol pyrophosphate derivatives [22].
• A Crithidia fasciculata single-stranded DNA-binding protein interacts specifically with the guanine-rich heavy strand of this origin-associated sequence (Y. Tzfati, H. Abeliovich, I. Kapeller, and J. Shlomai, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:6891-6895, 1992) [23].
• In Crithidia luciliae, this 3'-nucleotidase/nuclease previously has been shown to be highly regulated as purine and/or Pi starvation of this trypanosomatid leads to as much as a 1000-fold increase in enzyme activity [24].
• Incubation of Crithidia fasciculata cells with [U-14C] glucose led to the synthesis of Man-P-dolichol but not of Glc-P-dolichol [25].

Gene context of Crithidia

• Indirect immunofluorescence with Crithidia luciliae and ELISA for anti-dsDNA Abs showed that 76% of Tsk2/+ mice were positive for this autoantibody [26].
• Crithidia fasciculata hsp83 undergoes autophosphorylation on serine and threonine at a rate constant of 3.3 x 10(-3) min-1 [27].
• Expression of a homologous cDNA from a protozoan parasite (Crithidia fasciculata) in a ura3 urk1 urh1 mutant is sufficient to restore growth on uridine [28].
• The analyses included antibodies against nuclear antigens (ANA), extractable nuclear antigens, double stranded (ds)DNA (by ELISA, IIF on Crithidia luciliae for IgM and IgG, and Farr assay), nucleosomes, cardiolipin, smooth muscle, mitochondria, proteinase 3, and myeloperoxidase antigens [29].
• The bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) gene from the monogenetic kinetoplastid protozoan, Crithidia fasciculata, was isolated and characterized [30].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Crithidia

• Among these sera, two did not display anti-DNA antibodies, as shown by Farr assay, solid-phase radioimmunoassay, and Crithidia luciliae test [31].
• The Crithidia luciliae immunofluorescence (CLIF) assay is widely used to test for native DNA (nDNA) antibodies in the diagnosis and management of systemic lupus erythematosus [32].
• Plasma samples were obtained at least once every month and were assessed for anti-dsDNA antibody (by the Crithidia luciliae assay, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA], and the Farr assay) and for complement components C3 and C4 [33].
• Sera of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were positive more frequently by this immunoassay than by the Crithidia luciliae assay or by counterimmunoelectrophoresis [34].
• The Crithidia enzyme can be purified by ATP-affinity chromatography, glycerol-gradient centrifugation and ion-exchange chromatography [35].

References