Paramyosin isoforms of Schistosoma mansoni are phosphorylated and localized in a large variety of muscle types

Abstract

SUMMARYParamyosin, although a widely distributed muscle component among invertebrates, has hitherto not clearly been shown to occur in the muscles of schistosomes. Instead, it has been reported to occur in the tegument. In the present study, a specific antibody reacting with each of 10 isoforms of paramyosin was used for light microscopical immunolocalization in sections of Schistosoma mansoni. Specimens were fixed by a new method to immobilize antigens with uranyl acetate–trehalose–methanol. In cercariae, schistosomula, and adults, the circular and longitudinal muscles of the body wall, the dorsoventral muscles and those surrounding the gut and the pharynx as well as the fast moving cross-striated muscles of the tail of cercariae intensely reacted with the antibody. However, neither immunohistologically nor on Western blots of isolated tegument, were indications found for the presence of paramyosin in the tegument. In vivo phosphorylation and binding of anti-phospho-tyrosine and anti-phospho-serine antibodies show phosphorylation of paramyosin which probably is responsible for the generation of the isoforms.