Diversity and selective pressures of anticoagulants in three medicinal leeches (Hirudinida: Hirudinidae, Macrobdellidae)
Research article published in Ecol Evol (2013)
Abstract
Although medicinal leeches have long been used as treatment for various ailments because of their potent anticoagulation factors, neither the full diversity of salivary components that inhibit coagulation, nor the evolutionary selection acting on them has been thoroughly investigated. Here, we constructed expressed sequence tag libraries from salivary glands of two species of medicinal hirudinoid leeches, Hirudo verbana and Aliolimnatis fenestrata, and identified anticoagulant-orthologs through BLASTx searches. The data set then was augmented by the addition of a previously constructed EST library from the macrobdelloid leech Macrobdella decora. The identified orthologs then were compared and contrasted with well-characterized anticoagulants from a variety of leeches with different feeding habits, including non-sanguivorous species. Moreover, four different statistical methods for predicting signatures of positive and negative evolutionary pressures were used for 10 rounds each to assess the level and type of selection acting on the molecules as a whole and on specific sites. In total, sequences showing putative BLASTx-orthology with five and three anticoagulant-families were recovered in the A. fenestrata and H. verbana EST libraries respectively. Selection pressure analyses predicted high levels of purifying selection across the anticoagulant diversity, although a few isolated sites showed signatures of positive selection. This study represents a first attempt at mapping the anticoagulant repertoires in a comparative fashion across several leech families.
Abstract sourced from PubMed (NCBI) for the cited record. See the original publication for the authoritative version.
Zusammenfassung
EST libraries from Hirudo verbana, Aliolimnatis fenestrata, and Macrobdella decora salivary glands; purifying selection dominates the anticoagulant repertoire with a few isolated sites under positive selection.
Warum dies für die Hirudotherapie relevant ist
This study constructed expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries from the salivary glands of the hirudinoid leeches Hirudo verbana and Aliolimnatis fenestrata, and incorporated a previously built EST library from the macrobdelloid leech Macrobdella decora, to comparatively map the diversity of anticoagulant orthologs and assess evolutionary selection pressures. Putative orthologs spanning five and three anticoagulant families were recovered from A. fenestrata and H. verbana respectively, with predominantly purifying selection and isolated sites of positive selection. This work is relevant to ASH's domain as it provides comparative molecular data on anticoagulant molecules in leech salivary glands across multiple leech groups. However, the study is purely molecular and evolutionary in nature, with no functional bioassay data or clinical correlations, so its practical therapeutic implications are indirect.
Zitation
Diversity and selective pressures of anticoagulants in three medicinal leeches (Hirudinida: Hirudinidae, Macrobdellidae).
Kvist S et al. · Ecol Evol, 2013
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