Cloning and Characterisation of a Prohibitin Gene from Infective Larvae of the Parasitic Nematode <i>Toxocara canis</i>

Abstract

Infective larvae of the parasitic nematode Toxocara canis express an mRNA (Tc-pro-1) encoding a predicted protein that shares significant homology with prohibitin, a protein involved in inhibition of cell proliferation - The closest homologues of Tc-pro-1 include an expressed sequence tag (EST) from Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila L2Cc, a protein thought to be essential for larval development and moulting. Other homologues include prohibitin from rat and human and an EST from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Parasite life cycles generally include periods of developmental arrest, which in the larvae of T. canis may persist for many years without loss of metabolic activity. This report of the first full-length gene encoding prohibitin from a parasitic nematode raises interesting suggestions about the potential role of prohibitin in diapause and in the regulation of moulting in development.