PRESENCE OF A CONSERVED DOMAIN OF GATA TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS IN ECHINOCOCCUS-GRANULOSUS

In order to characterize GATA transcription factors in Echinococcus gr anulosus, a PCR-based cloning strategy was developed. Degenerate oligo nucleotides were designed for the most conserved sequence in GATA prot eins that include 20 amino acids of the zinc domain. A 60 bp fragment was isolated that had high homology among this sequence and those repo rted in other species. An analogous sequence was obtained by performin g the same procedure with DNA from the free living platyhelminth Duges ia tigrina. High stringency Southern blotting experiments confirmed th e presence of this sequence in the parasite genome.