Excretory/secretory metabolome of the zoonotic roundworm parasite Toxocara canis

Wangchuk, Phurpa, Lavers, Owen, Wishart, David, and Loukas, Alex (2020) Excretory/secretory metabolome of the zoonotic roundworm parasite Toxocara canis. Biomolecules, 10 (8). 1157.

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Abstract

Toxocariasis is a zoonotic disease affecting humans that is predominantly caused by Toxocara canis and T. cati, primarily parasites of dogs and cats, respectively. Toxocara generally establishes long-term infections by co-opting its host’s physiological processes, while at the same time exploiting the nutritional environment. Adult stage T. canis reside in the gut of the definitive canine host where they employ a suite of strategies to combat intestinal immune responses by actively producing and releasing excretory-secretory products (ESPs). The protein component of T. canis ESPs has been widely studied, but characterisation of the non-protein ESP complement remains neglected. To characterize the secreted metabolome of Toxocara ESPs and to shed light on the parasite’s metabolic processes, we profiled the ESPs of T. canis using both gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) mass spectrometry approaches. We successfully identified 61 small molecules, including 41 polar metabolites, 14 medium-long chain fatty acids (MLCFAs) and six short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). We identified talose, stearic acid and isovalerate as the major compounds belonging to the polar, MLCFA and SCFA chemical classes, respectively. Most of the 61 identified metabolites appear to have been produced by T. canis via three distinct metabolic pathways - fatty acid, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism. The majority of the identified ESPs have known biological properties, especially as immunomodulators. However, there is limited/no information on the biological roles or applications of 31 ESP biomolecules, suggesting that these may have novel activities that merit further investigation.

Item ID: 64084
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2218-273X
Keywords: helminths; gastrointestinal nematode; Toxocara canis; toxocariasis; excretory-secretory products; small molecules; metabolomics
Copyright Information: ©2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open accessarticle distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Funders: NHMRC, AITHM
Projects and Grants: NHMRC Peter Doherty Early Career Fellowship APP1091011, AITHM Capacity Development Grant, NHMRC APP1132975, NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship APP1117504
Date Deposited: 31 Aug 2020 19:35
FoR Codes: 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3205 Medical biochemistry and metabolomics > 320501 Medical biochemistry - amino acids and metabolites @ 50%
34 CHEMICAL SCIENCES > 3404 Medicinal and biomolecular chemistry > 340401 Biologically active molecules @ 50%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920120 Zoonoses @ 50%
97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970111 Expanding Knowledge in the Medical and Health Sciences @ 50%
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