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Experimental evidence for hybridization of closely related lineages in Plasmodium relictum
Publication date: Available online 10 August 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Vaidas Palinauskas, Rasa Bernotienė, Rita Žiegytė, Staffan Bensch, Gediminas Valkiūnas Over 50 avian Plasmodium species have been described. However, PCR-based information shows much broader diversity of genetic lineages in these parasites. This discrepancy indicates insufficient knowledge about taxonomic diversity and boundaries of a single species in avian Plasmodium species. In recent taxonomy, most of genetically closely related lineages that share the same morphology and development patterns are attrib...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - August 11, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

ABC transporters in the liver fluke Opisthorchis felineus
Publication date: Available online 17 July 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Viatcheslav A. Mordvinov, Nikita I. Ershov, Darya S. Pirozhkova, Yuri V. Pakharukov, Maria Y. Pakharukova ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABC transporters) are essential components of normal cellular physiological machinery in all eukaryotic and prokaryotic species, including parasites. Some ABC transporters, e.g., P-glycoproteins, are involved in the efflux of toxins and xenobiotics from the cell. At present, nothing is known about ABC transporter genes in epidemiologically important liver flukes from the Opi...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 18, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Transient transfection of intraerythrocytic Babesia gibsoni using elongation factor-1 alpha promoter
Publication date: Available online 17 July 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Mingming Liu, Masahito Asada, Shinuo Cao, Paul Franck Adjou Moumouni, Patrick Vudriko, Artemis Efstratiou, Hassan Hakimi, Tatsunori Masatani, Fujiko Sunaga, Shin-ichiro Kawazu, Junya Yamagishi, Xuenan Xuan The development of gene manipulation techniques has been reported in many protozoan parasites over the past few years. However, these techniques have not yet been established for Babesia gibsoni. Here, we report for the first time, the successful transient transfection of B. gibsoni. The plasmid containi...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 18, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Metacyclic VSG expression site promoters are recognized by the same general transcription factor that is required for RNA polymerase I transcription of bloodstream expression sites
Publication date: Available online 14 July 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Nikolay G. Kolev, Arthur Günzl, Christian Tschudi Infectious metacyclic Trypanosoma brucei cells develop in the salivary glands of tsetse flies. A critical aspect of the developmental program leading to acquisition of infectivity is the synthesis of a variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat. Metacyclic VSG genes are transcribed from a set of specialized VSG expression sites (ESs) that differ from bloodstream VSG ESs by being monocistronic, being significantly shorter, lacking long stretches of 70-bp repeats, and h...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - July 15, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Fatty acid composition of free-living and parasitic stages of the bovine lungworm Dictyocaulus viviparus
Publication date: Available online 23 June 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Ann-Christin Becker, Ina Willenberg, Andrea Springer, Nils Helge Schebb, Pablo Steinberg, Christina Strube The development of parasitic nematodes proceeds via multiple stages, often implicating the necessity to adapt to different environments. Especially the transition from free-living to parasitic stages is accompanied by a significant change in the environmental conditions. To shed light on possible adaptations to these transitions, the fatty acid composition of different developmental stages of the bovine lun...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - June 24, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Conversion of procyclic-form Trypanosoma brucei to the bloodstream form by transient expression of RBP10
Publication date: Available online 24 June 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Elisha Mugo, Franziska Egler, Christine Clayton Bloodstream-form Trypanosoma brucei can lose the ability to differentiate to the procyclic form during prolonged in vitro culture. This can pose a problem during complicated genetic manipulation experiments, especially when the differentiation phenotype is under investigation. Ideally, to preserve differentiation competence, parasites should be cycled after every genetic manipulation step. Conversion of bloodstream-form Trypanosoma brucei to the procyclic form in vitr...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - June 24, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Subcellular localization of glycolytic enzymes and characterization of intermediary metabolism of Trypanosoma rangeli
Publication date: Available online 20 June 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Rocío Rondón-Mercado, Héctor Acosta, Ana J. Cáceres, Wilfredo Quiñones, Juan Luis Concepción Trypanosoma rangeli is a hemoflagellate protist that infects wild and domestic mammals as well as humans in Central and South America. Although this parasite is not pathogenic for human, it is being studied because it shares with Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas' disease, biological characteristics, geographic distribution, vectors and vertebrate hosts. Several metabolic studies have been performed...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - June 21, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Nicotinamide inhibits the growth of P. falciparum and enhances the antimalarial effect of artemisinin, chloroquine and pyrimethamine
Publication date: Available online 19 June 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Sergey O. Tcherniuk, Olga Chesnokova, Irina V. Oleinikov, Andrew V. Oleinikov Nicotinamide (vitamin B3) – is a water soluble amide derivative of nicotinic acid, which has been used at high doses for a variety of therapeutic applications. However, its antimalarial effect has not been intensively explored. In this work we analysed the effect of nicotinamide alone and in combination with artemisinin, chloroquine andpyrimethamine on the growth of blood stages of P. falciparum. Our results demonstrate that nicotinami...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - June 20, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Recent advances in Leishmania reverse genetics: manipulating a manipulative parasite
Publication date: Available online 16 June 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Samuel M. Duncan, Nathaniel G. Jones, Jeremy C. Mottram In this review we describe the expanding repertoire of molecular tools with which to study gene function in Leishmania. Specifically we review the tools available for studying functions of essential genes, such as plasmid shuffle and DiCre, as well as the rapidly expanding portfolio of available CRISPR/Cas9 approaches for large scale gene knockout and endogenous tagging. We include detail on approaches that allow the direct manipulation of RNA using RNAi and p...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - June 17, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

A DiCre recombinase-based system for inducible expression in Leishmania major
Publication date: Available online 16 June 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Renato E.R.S. Santos, Gabriel L.A. Silva, Elaine V. Santos, Samuel M. Duncan, Jeremy C. Mottram, Jeziel D. Damasceno, Luiz R.O. Tosi Here we present the establishment of an inducible system based on the dimerizable Cre recombinase (DiCre) for controlled gene expression in the protozoan parasite Leishmania. Rapamycin-induced DiCre activation promoted efficient flipping and expression of gene products in a time and dose-dependent manner. The DiCre flipping activity induced the expression of target genes from both...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - June 17, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

The Plasmodium falciparum exported protein PF3D7_0402000 binds to erythrocyte ankyrin and band 4.1
This study confirmed the interaction of PF3D7_0402000 with 4.1R in multiple independent assays, provided the first evidence that PF3D7_0402000 also binds to ANK1, and suggested that PF3D7_0402000 affects deformability or membrane stability of uninfected RBC ghosts. (Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology)
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - June 14, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

The fluorescent protein iLOV outperforms eGFP as a reporter gene in the microaerophilic protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis
This study assessed the performance of iLOV, which does not require oxygen to function, as compared to the conventional enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) in T. vaginalis. The results indicated that iLOV outperforms eGFP in both transient and stable expression, being detectable earlier and producing higher fluorescent intensity than eGFP in T. vaginalis. This finding facilitates forthcoming genetic studies that will advance the knowledge on this human parasitic infection. Graphical abstract (Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology)
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - June 10, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Anti-trypanosomal activity of cationic N-heterocyclic carbene gold(I) complexes
Publication date: Available online 15 May 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Isabel Winter, Julia Lockhauserbäumer, Gertrud Lallinger-Kube, Rainer Schobert, Klaus Ersfeld, Bernhard Biersack Two gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes 1a and 1b were tested for their anti-trypanosomal activity against Trypanosoma brucei brucei parasites. Both gold compounds exhibited excellent anti-trypanosomal activity (IC50 =0.9-3.0nM). The effects of the gold complexes 1a and 1b on the T. b. brucei cytoskeleton were evaluated. Rapid detachment of the flagellum from the cell body occurred after treatmen...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - May 16, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

An efficient Cumate-inducible system for procyclic and bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei
Publication date: Available online 21 April 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Feng-Jun Li, Zhi-Shen Xu, Htay Mon Aye, Anaïs Brasseur, Zhao-Rong Lun, Kevin S.W. Tan, Cynthia Y. He In Trypanosoma brucei, the tetracycline-inducible system enables tightly-regulated, highly-efficient expression of recombinant proteins or double-stranded RNA in both procyclic and bloodstream form cells, providing useful molecular genetic tools to study gene functions. An alternative, vanillic acid-inducible system is recently described for procyclic T. brucei, providing ∼18-fold increase in GFP reporter ex...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - April 22, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research

Parasitism finds many solutions to the same problems in red algae (Florideophyceae, Rhodophyta)
Publication date: Available online 17 April 2017 Source:Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Author(s): Jillian M. Freese, Christopher E. Lane Parasitic red algae evolve from a common ancestor with their hosts, parasitizing cousins using familiar cellular mechanisms. They have independently evolved over one hundred times within the exclusively multicellular red algal class Florideophyceae. Reduced morphology, a lack of pigmentation, and direct cell-cell connections with their hosts are markers of red algal parasitism. With so many potential evolutionary pathways, red algal parasite diversity offers a unique test case...
Source: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology - April 18, 2017 Category: Parasitology Source Type: research