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Editorial Board
Publication date: July 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 223Author(s): (Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology)
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 14, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Metformin promotes autophagy in Echinococcus granulosus larval stage
Publication date: Available online 11 July 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical ParasitologyAuthor(s): Julia A. Loos, María Celeste Nicolao, Andrea C. CuminoAbstractCystic echinococcosis is a neglected parasitic disease caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus for which an effective treatment is not yet available. Since autophagy constitutes a homeostatic mechanism during stress, either inhibition or activation of its activity might be detrimental for survival of the parasite. Amongst the critical molecules that regulate autophagy, TOR, AMPK and sirtuins are the best characterized ones. Previously, we have i...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 12, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Identification and functional analysis of a stress-responsive MAPK15 in Entamoeba invadens
In this study, we have identified a stress-responsive MAPK which gets upregulated under different stress conditions, including encystation. Sequence analysis and phylogenetic classification show that the MAPK belongs to the atypical MAPK15 family (henceforth, named EiMAPK15), which does not require an upstream MAPKK for its phosphorylation and activation. The in vitro kinase activity of recombinant EiMAPK15 exhibits its auto-phosphorylation ability. Immunolocalization studies reveal that the protein is mainly cytosolic under normal growing conditions but gets translocated into the nucleus under stress conditions. Knockdown...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Screening of the MMV and GSK open access chemical boxes using a viability assay developed against the kinetoplastid Crithidia fasciculata
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): Wakisa Kipandula, Simon A. Young, Stuart A. MacNeill, Terry K. SmithAbstractDiseases caused by the pathogenic kinetoplastids continue to incapacitate and kill hundreds of thousands of people annually throughout the tropics and sub-tropics. Unfortunately, in the countries where these neglected diseases occur, financial obstacles to drug discovery and technical limitations associated with biochemical studies impede the development of new, safe, easy to administer and effective drugs. Here we report the development and optimisation...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Differential tissue distribution of Trypanosoma cruzi during acute experimental infection: Further evidence using natural isolates
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): Mariana Strauss, Daniela A. Velázquez López, Diego M. Moya, P. Carolina Bazán, Alejandra L. Báez, H. Walter Rivarola, Patricia A. Paglini-Oliva, M. Silvina Lo PrestiAbstractIn the present work, we evaluated the effect of mixed Trypanosoma cruzi infections, studying the biological distribution of the different parasites in blood, heart and skeletal muscle during the acute phase. Albino Swiss mice were infected with different parasite strain/isolates or with a combination of them. The parasites in the different tissues were ty...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Editorial Board
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): (Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology)
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Stage-specific expression of the proline-alanine transporter in the human pathogen Leishmania
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): T. Liburkin-Dan, D. Schlisselberg, R. Fischer-Weinberger, P. Pescher, E. Inbar, M. Ephros, D. Rentsch, G.F. Späth, D. ZilbersteinAbstractLeishmania are obligatory intracellular parasites that cycle between the sand fly midgut (extracellular promastigotes) and mammalian macrophage phagolysosomes (intracellular amastigotes). They have developed mechanisms of adaptation to the distinct environments of host and vector that favor utilization of both proline and alanine. LdAAP24 is the L. donovani proline-alanine transporter. It is a...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Purification of native Sigma class glutathione transferase from Fasciola hepatica
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): Joshua Duncan, David Cutress, Russell M. Morphew, Peter M. BrophyAbstractFascioliasis is a parasitic disease of grazing livestock and a threat to global food security by significantly reducing the production value of sheep, goats and cattle. Moreover, the zoonotic parasite is also a re-emerging food borne threat to human populations. Driven by climate change, the prevalence of fascioliasis is set to increase. Efforts to control the main causative agent, Fasciola hepatica, are hampered by short lived chemotherapy approaches that ...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Circulating cell-free DNA in patients with alveolar echinococcosis
This study sought to investigate the presence of ccfDNA in patients with AE, and its potential usefulness for the evaluation of treatment efficiency. To achieve these aims, a quantitative PCR and a droplet digital PCR were developed to detect E. multilocularis ccfDNA. An AE animal model identified, for the first time, the presence of large quantities of ccfDNA. Samples from patients with AE (n = 31) were then analyzed twice, at diagnosis, and after three months of chemotherapy: about 25% were positive, almost always with very low concentrations of ccfDNA. These results confirmed that E. multilocularis produces ccfDNA, ...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

A Cas9 transgenic Plasmodium yoelii parasite for efficient gene editing
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): Pengge Qian, Xu Wang, Zhenke Yang, Zhenkui Li, Han Gao, Xin-zhuan Su, Huiting Cui, Jing YuanAbstractThe RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9 has applied as an efficient gene-editing method in malaria parasite Plasmodium. However, the size (4.2 kb) of the commonly used Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes (SpCas9) limits its utility for genome editing in the parasites only introduced with cas9 plasmid. To establish the endogenous and constitutive expression of Cas9 protein in the rodent malaria parasite P. yoelii, we replaced the coding re...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

A conserved human DJ1-subfamily motif (DJSM) is critical for anti-oxidative and deglycase activities of Plasmodium falciparum DJ1
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): Divya N. Nair, Rajesh Prasad, Neha Singhal, Manish Bhattacharjee, Renu Sudhakar, Pushpa Singh, Subramonian Thanumalayan, Uday Kiran, Yogendra Sharma, Puran Singh SijwaliAbstractPlasmodium falciparum DJ1 (PfDJ1) belongs to the DJ-1/ThiJ/PfpI superfamily whose members are present in all the kingdoms of life and exhibit diverse cellular functions and biochemical activities. The common feature of the superfamily is the class I glutamine amidotransferase domain with a conserved redox-active cysteine residue, which mediates various ac...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Identification and characterization of a calmodulin binding domain in the plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase from Trypanosoma equiperdum
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): José Rubén Ramírez-Iglesias, María Carolina Pérez-Gordones, Jesús Rafael del Castillo, Alfredo Mijares, Gustavo Benaim, Marta MendozaAbstractThe plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase (PMCA) from trypanosomatids lacks a classical calmodulin (CaM) binding domain, although CaM stimulated activities have been detected by biochemical assays. Recently we proposed that the Trypanosoma equiperdum CaM-sensitive PMCA (TePMCA) contains a potential 1–18 CaM-binding motif at the C-terminal region of the pump. In the present study, we evaluated...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

G-protein-coupled receptor genes of Dirofilaria immitis
Publication date: June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 222Author(s): Thangadurai Mani, Catherine Bourguinat, Roger K. PrichardAbstractThe diversity and uniqueness of nematode heterotrimeric G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) provides impetus for identifying ligands that can be used as therapeutics for treating diseases caused by parasitic nematode infections. In human medicine, GPCRs have represented the largest group of ‘drugable’ targets exploited in the market today. In the filarial nematode Dirofilaria immitis, which causes heartworm disease, the macrocyclic lactones (ML) have been used ...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Leishmania donovani PP2C: kinetics, structural attributes and in vitro immune response
Publication date: Available online 28 June 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical ParasitologyAuthor(s): Jakkula Pranay, Rahila Qureshi, Atif Iqbal, S.R. Sagurthi, Insaf A. QureshiAbstractMost of the signaling pathways are regulated by the reversible phosphorylation-dephosphorylation which involves enzymes- kinases and phosphatases. The current knowledge about the protein phosphatases in parasites like Trypanosoma and Leishmania is very minimal despite their enormousity. In present study, full length ORF of Leishmania donovani PP2C was cloned into expression vector followed by purification using Ni-NTA affinity chromatograp...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Conditional knock-down of a novel coccidian protein leads to the formation of aberrant apical organelles and abrogates mature rhoptry positioning in Toxoplasma gondii
Publication date: July 2018Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Volume 223Author(s): Juliette Morlon-Guyot, Laurence Berry, Isabelle Sauquet, Gurman Singh Pall, Hiba El Hajj, Markus Meissner, Wassim DaherAbstractToxoplasma gondii which is a member of the coccidian parasites owns a spatially polarized secretory system, which synthesizes de novo micronemes and rhoptries. These apical secretory organelles discharge their contents into host cells promoting invasion and survival. Herein, we identified a novel Coccidian Specific CORVET/HOPS Associated Protein (CSCHAP) belonging to the interaction network of both tethe...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 10, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research