Multicenter Evaluation of BD Max Enteric Parasite Real-Time PCR Assay for Detection of Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium hominis, Cryptosporidium parvum, and Entamoeba histolytica.

Common causes of chronic diarrhea among travelers worldwide include protozoan parasites. The majority of parasitic infections are caused by Giardia duodenalis, Entamoeba histolytica, Cryptosporidium parvum, and Cryptosporidium hominis Similarly, these species cause the majority of parasitic diarrhea acquired in the United States. Detection of parasites by gold standard microscopic methods is time-consuming and requires considerable expertise; enzyme immunoassays and direct fluorescent-antibody (DFA) stains have lowered hands-on time for testing, but improvements in sensitivity and technical time may be possible with a PCR assay. We performed a clinical evaluation of a multiplex PCR panel, the enteric parasite panel (EPP), for the detection of these common parasites using the BD Max instrument, which performs automated extraction and amplification. A total of 2,495 compliant specimens were enrolled, including 2,104 (84%) specimens collected prospectively and 391 (16%) specimens collected retrospectively. Approximately equal numbers were received in 10% formalin (1,273 specimens) and unpreserved (1,222 specimens). The results from the EPP were compared to those from alternate PCR and bidirectional sequencing (APCR), as well as DFA (G. duodenalis and C. parvum or C. hominis) or trichrome stain (E. histolytica). The sensitivity and specificity for prospective and retrospective specimens combined were 98.2% and 99.5% for G. duodenalis, 95.5% and 99.6 for C. parvum or C. hominis, and 100% and 100% for E. histolytica, respectively. The performance of the FDA-approved BD Max EPP compared well to the reference methods and may be an appropriate substitute for microscopic examination or immunoassays.

Filamentous phage IKe mRNAs conserve form and function despite divergence in regulatory elements.

As a means of determining whether there has been selection to conserve the basic pattern of filamentous phage mRNAs, the major mRNAs representing genes II to VIII have been defined for a phage distantly related to the Ff group specific for Escherichia coli hosts bearing F pili. Phage IKe has a genome with 55% identity with the Ff genome and infects E. coli strains bearing N pili. The results reveal a remarkably similar pattern of overlapping polycistronic mRNAs with a common 3' end and unique 5' ends. The IKe mRNAs, like the Ff phage mRNAs, represent a combination of primary transcripts and processed RNAs. However, examination of the sequences containing the RNA endpoint positions revealed that effectively the only highly conserved regulatory element is the rho-independent terminator that generates the common 3' end. Promoters and processing sites have not been maintained in identical positions, but frequently are placed so as to yield RNAs with similar coding function. By conserving the pattern of transcription and processing despite divergence in the regulatory elements and possibly the requirements for host, endoribonucleases, the results argue that the pattern is not simply fortuitous.

Translation limits synthesis of an assembly-initiating coat protein of filamentous phage IKe.

Translation is shown to be downregulated sharply between genes V and VII of IKe, a filamentous bacteriophage classed with the Ff group (phages f1, M13, and fd) but having only 55% DNA sequence identity to it. Genes V and VII encode the following proteins which are used in very different amounts: pV, used to coat the large number of viral DNA molecules prior to assembly, and pVII, used to serve as a cap with pIX in 3 to 5 copies on the end of the phage particle that emerges first from Escherichia coli. The genes are immediately adjacent to each other and are represented in the same amounts on the Ff and IKe mRNAs. Ff gene VII has an initiation site that lacks detectable intrinsic activity yet through coupling is translated at a level 10-fold lower than that of upstream gene V. The experiments reported reveal that by contrast, the IKe gene VII initiation site had detectable activity but was coupled only marginally to upstream translation. The IKe gene V and VII initiation sites both showed higher activities than the Ff sites, but the drop in translation at the IKe V-VII junction was unexpectedly severe, approximately 75-fold. As a result, gene VII is translated at similarly low levels in IKe- and Ff-infected hosts, suggesting that selection to limit its expression has occurred.

RNA editing-associated protein 1 is an RNA binding protein with specificity for preedited mRNA.

RNA editing in the mitochondria of kinetoplastids involves the addition and deletion of uridines at specific sites as directed by guide RNAs (gRNAs). Ample evidence shows that ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes carry out this posttranscriptional processing. One component of RNA editing complexes is REAP-1, a protein of previously unknown function found primarily in mRNA containing editing complexes. We now show that REAP-1 is an RNA binding protein and map the binding activity to the amino-terminal third of the protein. REAP-1 binds to poly(G) and single-stranded guanosine rich RNAs. Data presented here demonstrates that preedited RNAs are the preferred substrate for REAP-1. The results suggest a model in which the role of REAP-1 is to bring preedited mRNAs into the editing complex.

Translation at higher than an optimal level interferes with coupling at an intercistronic junction.

In pairs of adjacent genes co-transcribed on bacterial polycistronic mRNAs, translation of the first coding region frequently functions as a positive factor to couple translation to the distal coding region. Coupling efficiencies vary over a wide range, but synthesis of both gene products at similar levels is common. We report the results of characterizing an unusual gene pair, in which only about 1% of the translational activity from the upstream gene is transmitted to the distal gene. The inefficient coupling was unexpected because the upstream gene is highly translated, the distal initiation site has weak but intrinsic ability to bind ribosomes, and the AUG is only two nucleotides beyond the stop codon for the upstream gene. The genes are those in the filamentous phage IKe genome, which encode the abundant single-stranded DNA binding protein (gene V) and the minor coat protein that caps one tip of the phage (gene VII). Here, we have used chimeras between the related phage IKe and f1 sequences to localize the region responsible for inefficient coupling. It mapped upstream from the intercistronic region containing the gene V stop codon and the gene VII initiation site, indicating that low coupling efficiency is associated with gene V. The basis for inefficient coupling emerged when coupling efficiency was found to increase as gene V translation was decreased below the high wild-type level. This was achieved by lowering the rate of elongation and by decreasing the efficiency of suppression at an amber codon within the gene. Increasing the strength of the Shine-Dalgarno interaction with 16S rRNA at the gene VII start also increased coupling efficiency substantially. In this gene pair, upstream translation thus functions in an unprecedented way as a negative factor to limit downstream expression. We interpret the results as evidence that translation in excess of an optimal level in an upstream gene interferes with coupling in the intercistronic junction.

Insertional and deletional RNA editing in trypanosome mitochondria.

The mitochondrial mRNAs of trypanosomes are often post-transcriptionally modified by an RNA processing event, termed RNA editing, which results in the insertion or deletion of uridylate (U) residues in mRNAs. RNA editing is necessary for the formation of complete coding sequences for several essential mitochondrial proteins. The number and site of U addition and deletion is directed by small guide RNAs (gRNAs). Recent studies indicate that the mechanism of RNA editing in trypanosomes involves a series of enzymatic steps. We show that the initial step in this enzymatic cascade requires the formation of a binary RNA complex between the gRNA and its cognate pre-mRNA. Depletion of specific gRNAs inhibits cleavage of the pre-mRNA by an editing site specific endoribonuclease. Addition of synthetic gRNAs reverses this inhibition. All of the activities needed for RNA editing in vitro are present within a 19S ribonucleo-protein complex (RNP) composed of gRNAs, the editing site specific endonuclease, an RNA ligase, a terminal uridylate transferase (TUTase) and approximately 15 other unidentified proteins. We have recently identified and cloned the gene for a 45kDa protein, the RNA Editing Associated Protein-1 (REAP-1), which is a component of trypanosome editing complexes. REAP-1 co-purifies with RNA ligase and TUTase activities and is part of a > 700 kDa RNP containing gRNAs. Antibodies against REAP-1 inhibit in vitro RNA editing reactions confirming its role in RNA editing.

Kinetoplastid RNA-editing-associated protein 1 (REAP-1): a novel editing complex protein with repetitive domains.

Kinetoplastid RNA editing consists of the addition or deletion of uridines at specific sites within mitochondrial mRNAs. This unusual RNA processing event is catalyzed by a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex that includes editing site-specific endoribonuclease, RNA ligase and terminal uridylnucleotidyl transferase (Tutase) among its essential enzymatic activities. To identify the components of this RNP, monoclonal antibodies were raised against partially purified editing complexes. One antibody reacts with a mitochondrially located 45 kDa polypeptide (p45) which contains a conserved repetitive amino acid domain. p45 co-purifies with RNA ligase and Tutase in a large ( approximately 700 kDa) RNP, and anti-p45 antibody inhibits in vitro RNA editing. Thus, p45 is the first kinetoplastid RNA-editing-associated protein (REAP-1) that has been cloned and identified as a protein component of a functional editing complex.

Biochemical methods for analysis of kinetoplastid RNA editing.

RNA editing is a posttranscriptional process involving mRNAs [reviewed by K. Stuart et al. (1997) Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 61, 105-120; G. J. Arts and R. Benne (1996) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1307, 39-54; and S. L. Hajduk and R. S. Sabatini (1996) in Molecular Biology of Parasitic Protozoa (Smith, D. S., and Parsons, M., Eds.), pp. 134-158, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford] and tRNAs [K. M. Lonergan and M. Gray (1993) Science 259, 812-816] that has now been described in an increasing number of eukaryotic organisms. In this process sequences differ from their gene sequences by the addition, removal, or conversion of specific ribonucleotides. RNA editing was first described within the mitochondrion of kinetoplastid protozoa. Several of the mitochondrial mRNAs in these flagellates have uridine residues inserted and deleted at specific sites. In some cases, more than 50% of the mRNA is created by RNA editing. In this article, we describe some of the biochemical methods used in analyzing the process of RNA editing in kinetoplastid mitochondria.