CLONING AND ANALYSIS OF A CRYPTOSPORIDIUM-PARVUM GENE ENCODING A PROTEIN WITH HOMOLOGY TO CYTOPLASMIC FORM HSP70

An intronless gene encoding a protein of 674 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 73,403 Da showing homology to the cytoplasmic form of the 70 kDa heat shock proteins has been cloned and sequenced from the intestinal pathogen Cryptosporidium parvum. Monospecific polyclona l antibodies obtained to recombinant protein recognized a single band with an approximate molecular mass of 70 kDa on a Western blot of C. p arvum proteins, as well as the 70 kDa heat shock protein from bovine b rain. Southern blot analysis suggested the gene was single copy in the C. parvum genome. Eleven perfect repeats of the sequence GGMP were fo und in the predicted protein near the carboxyl terminus.