Characterization of the variable merozoite surface antigen (VMSA) gene family of Babesia orientalis

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GENETICS, EVOLUTION, AND PHYLOGENY - ORIGINAL PAPER

Characterization of the variable merozoite surface antigen (VMSA) gene family of Babesia orientalis Zheng Nie 1,2 & Yingjun Xia 1,2 & Long Yu 1,2 & Muxiao Li 1,2 & Jiaying Guo 1,2 & Yali Sun 1,2 & Yangsiqi Ao 1,2 & Xueyan Zhan 1,2 & Yangnan Zhao 1,2 & Xiaomeng An 1,2 & Qin Liu 1,2 & Wang Sen 1,2 & Xiang Shu 1,2 & Dongfang Li 1,2 & Lan He 1,2,3 & Junlong Zhao 1,2,3 Received: 8 January 2020 / Accepted: 6 September 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract Due to its wide presence in apicomplexan parasites as well as high polymorphism and antigenic diversity, the variable merozoite surface antigen (VMSA) family in Babesia sp. has attracted increasing attention of researchers. Here, all the reported VMSA genes of Babesia spp. were obtained from GenBank, and multiple alignments were performed by using conserved regions to blast the Babesia orientalis genome database (unpublished data). Five MSA genes (named MSA-2a1, MSA-2a2, MSA-2c1, MSA-1, and MSA-2c2, respectively) were identified, sequenced, and cloned from B. orientalis, which were shown to encode proteins with open reading frames ranging in size from 266 (MSA-2c1) to 317 (MSA-1) amino acids. All the five proteins contain an MSA-2c superfamily conserved domain, with an identical signal peptide and glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol (GPI)-anchor for each of them. The five proteins were also predicted to contain B cell epitopes, with only three for BoMSA-2c1, the smallest protein in the BoVMSA family, while at least six for each of the others. Notably, BoMSA-2a1 has 2 identical copies, a specific phenomenon only present in B. orientalis. This research has determined the MSA genes of B. orientalis and provides a genetic basis for further research of functional genes in B. orientalis. Keywords Babesia orientalis . Merozoite surface antigen . MSA . B cell epitopes . GPI

Section Editor: Dana Mordue * Junlong Zhao zhaojunlong@mail.hzau.edu.cn

Xiaomeng An 1135032238@qq.com

Zheng Nie 785648484@qq.com

Qin Liu 1319529141@qq.com

Yingjun Xia 1424584845@qq.com

Wang Sen 1210190905@qq.com

Long Yu 399742372@qq.com

Xiang Shu 739669325@qq.com

Muxiao Li lixuxiao12@aliyun.com

Dongfang Li dongfang0216@foxmail.com

Jiaying Guo 1690529415@qq.com

Lan He helan@mail.hzau.edu.cn

Yali Sun 535919440@qq.com Yangsiqi Ao 237895074@qq.com Xueyan Zhan 1481011240@qq.com Yangnan Zhao 952519725@qq.com

1

State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, China

2

Key Laboratory of Preventive Veterinary Medicine in Hubei Province, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, China

3

Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemical Disease and Infectious Zoonoses, Ministry of Agriculture, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, China

Parasitol Res

Introduction Babesia orientalis, a protozoan hemoparasite of phylum Apicomplexa, is transmitted by Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides (da Silva et al. 2013). In 1984, B. orientalis was first reported i