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Proteinase activity in the plerocercoid of Proteocephalus ambloplitis (Cestoda)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

M. Polzer ,
R. M. Overstreet  and
H. Taraschewski
M. Polzer
Affiliation:
Lehrstuhl för Spezielle Zoologie und Parasitologie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
R. M. Overstreet
Affiliation:
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39566, USA
H. Taraschewski
Affiliation:
Zoologisches Institut, Universität Karlsruhe, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
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Summary

Host invasion and tissue migration of several helminths have been linked to expression and release of parasite-derived proteinases. The plerocercoid of the cestode Proteocephalus ambloplitis can migrate into the visceral organs or, in the case of bass, from them into the intestinal tract of the same individual fish. It does this within a few hours, aided by secretion of a substance from its apical gland. Proteinase activity in this plerocercoid, obtained from the host liver, was defined by pH optimum, by substrate and inhibitor specificity, and by electrophoretic and chromatographic techniques. Homogenates of plerocercoid contained a metalloproteinase exhibiting a molecular weight of 30000 determined by gelatin substrate gel electrophoresis. Peak activity of this proteolytic enzyme in gel filtration fractions when azocoll was used as substrate then corresponded to a molecular weight of 31500. The proteinase showed collagenolytic, haemoglobinolytic and slight elastinolytic activity, and it had a pH optimum at 9·0. Enzyme activity could be inhibited by various chelating agents. The metalloproteinase identified in this study constitutes the only enzyme class present in this larval stage of P. ambloplitis. We suggest that the plerocercoid's metalloproteinase is the substance secreted from the apical organ, necessary for the previously recognized tissue migration phase. This enzyme might also have a nutritional function.

Keywords

CestodaProteocephalus ambloplitisplerocercoidmetalloproteinaseapical organ
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 109 , Issue 2 , August 1994 , pp. 209 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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