Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases
University of Georgia
Diego Huet works in molecular parasitology, focusing on the organellar biology of Toxoplasma gondii. In this mSphere of Influence article, he reflects on how the article “Efficient proximity labeling in living cells and organisms with turboID” (Branon et al., 2018) impacted his research and the strategies used to dissect inter-organellar interactions in T. gondii. Diego …
Cellular adaptations to change often involve post-translational modifications of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. An example found in protists and plants is the modification of serine and threonine residues of dozens to hundreds of nucleocytoplasmic proteins with a single fucose (O-fucose). A nucleocytoplasmic O-fucosyltransferase occurs in the pathogen Toxoplasma gondii, the social amoeba Dictyostelium, and higher …
Toxoplasma bradyzoites reside in tissue cysts that undergo cycles of expansion, rupture, and release to foster chronic infection. The glycosylated cyst wall acts as a protective barrier, although the processes responsible for formation, remodeling, and turnover are not understood. Herein, we identify a noncanonical chitinase-like enzyme TgCLP1 that localizes to micronemes and is targeted …
Half the world’s population is at risk of developing a malaria infection, which is caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Currently, resistance has been identified to all clinically available antimalarials, highlighting an urgent need to develop novel compounds and better understand common mechanisms of resistance. We previously identified a novel tetrahydro-β-carboline compound, PRC1590, which …
Unique for a eukaryote, protein-coding genes in trypanosomes are arranged in polycistronic transcription units (PTUs). This genome arrangement has led to a model where Pol II transcription of PTUs is unregulated and changes in gene expression are entirely post-transcriptional. Trypanosoma brucei brucei is unable to infect humans because of its susceptibility to an innate immune complex, trypanosome …
Cryptosporidium spp. are medically and scientifically relevant protozoan parasites that cause severe diarrheal illness in infants, immunosuppressed populations and many animals. Although most human Cryptosporidium infections are caused by C. parvum and C. hominis, there are several other human-infecting species including C. meleagridis, which are commonly observed in developing countries. Here, we annotated a …
Plumerianoids A-D (1-4) with a new intact spirocyclic iridoid alkaloid skeleton, along with a new degraded alkaloid 8-epi-plumerianine (5), and a known one (6), were isolated and characterized from Plumeria rubra. The structure of 6 was revised as (8R,13S)-plumerianine. These alkaloids consist of three epimeric pairs (1/2, 3/4, and 5/6), exhibiting virtually identical NMR spectra within …
The production of energy in the form of ATP by the mitochondrial ATP synthase must be tightly controlled. One well-conserved form of regulation is mediated via ATPase inhibitory factor 1 (IF1), which governs ATP synthase activity and gene expression patterns through a cytoprotective process known as mitohormesis. In apicomplexans, the processes regulating ATP synthase activity …
The present document outlines the next steps recommended by the Skin NTDs subgroup of the DTAG to operationalise individual disease TPPs and to advance the NTD road map approach of scaling up integrated approaches to skin NTDs. Michael Marks, Sundeep Chaitanya Vedithi, Wendy W J van de Sande, Bruno Levecke, Anthony W Solomon, Kingsley …
Background: Malaria, a disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium, continues to impact many regions globally. The rise in resistance to artemisinin-based anti-malarial drugs highlights the need for new treatments. Ideally, new anti-malarials will kill the asymptomatic liver stages as well as the symptomatic blood stages. While blood stage screening assays are routine and efficient, …