Heterogeneity of Entamoeba histolytica rac genes encoding p21rac homologues

Entamoeba histolytica (Eh), the parasite that causes amebic dysentery, is the only protozoan that phagocytoses bacteria, epithelial cells and red blood cells. Numerous low-molecular weight GTP-binding proteins, called p21rac, are implicated in signal transduction and actin polymerization during phagocytosis by macrophages and Dictyostelium discoideum (Dd). Here, molecular cloning techniques were used to obtain four Eh rac genes that encoded putative p21rac, as well as segments of two Eh rac pseudogenes. The predicted Eh p21rac, which share 55-81% amino acid (aa) identities with each other, include one that closely resembles the p21rac1 of man, Dd, Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans; two that resemble the p21racC of Dd; and one that is unique. An alignment of the Eh rac ORF with other rac family proteins reveals multiple aa that distinguish p21rac1, p21racC and p21cdc42. We conclude that the Eh genes encoding amebic p21rac, which are the first identified from a protozoan parasite, are numerous and heterogeneous.