Jessica Kissinger Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases

A novel fragmented mitochondrial genome in the protist pathogen Toxoplasma gondii and related tissue coccidia

Donna Huber on April 27, 2021

Mitochondrial genome content and structure vary widely across the eukaryotic tree of life, with protists displaying extreme examples. Apicomplexan and dinoflagellate protists have evolved highly reduced mitochondrial genome sequences, mtDNA, consisting of only three cytochrome genes and fragmented rRNA genes. Here, we report the independent evolution of fragmented cytochrome genes in Toxoplasma and related tissue coccidia and …

Strain-specific genome evolution in Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease

Donna Huber on January 28, 2021

The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi almost invariably establishes life-long infections in humans and other mammals, despite the development of potent host immune responses that constrain parasite numbers. The consistent, decades-long persistence of T. cruzi in human hosts arises at least in part from the remarkable level of genetic diversity in multiple families of genes encoding the …

Analysis of Long Non-Coding RNA in Cryptosporidium parvum Reveals Significant Stage-Specific Antisense Transcription

Donna Huber on January 14, 2021

Cryptosporidium is a protist parasite that has been identified as the second leading cause of moderate to severe diarrhea in children younger than two and a significant cause of mortality worldwide. Cryptosporidium has a complex, obligate, intracellular but extra cytoplasmic lifecycle in a single host. How genes are regulated in this parasite remains largely unknown. Long non-coding RNAs …

Jessica Kissinger elected ASTMH Fellow

Donna Huber on November 16, 2020

Jessica Kissinger (Photo by Peter Frey) University of Georgia geneticist Jessica Kissinger has been elected a 2020 American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Fellow. Kissinger is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Genetics, part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She also holds appointments in the Institute of Bioinformatics and Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases. …

Resistance to some, but not other dimeric lindenane sesquiterpenoid esters is mediated by mutations in a Plasmodium falciparum esterase

Donna Huber on September 24, 2020

Unique lindenane sesquiterpenoid dimers from Chloranthecae spp. were recently identified with promising in vitro antiplasmodial activity and potentially novel mechanisms of action. To gain mechanistic insights to this new class of natural products, in vitro selection of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to the most active antiplasmodial compound, chlorajaponilide C, was explored. In all selected resistant clones, …

Noncoding RNAs in Apicomplexan Parasites: An Update

Donna Huber on August 20, 2020

Illustration of Long Noncoding RNA (lncRNA) Functions in Apicomplexan Parasites. Recent breakthroughs in high-throughput technologies, transcriptomics, and advances in our understanding of gene regulatory networks have enhanced our perspective on the complex interplay between parasite and host. Noncoding RNA molecules have been implicated in critical roles covering a broad range of biological processes in the …

Update on Cryptosporidium spp.: highlights from the Seventh International Giardia and Cryptosporidium Conference

Donna Huber on March 13, 2020

While cryptosporidiosis is recognized as being among the most common causes of human parasitic diarrhea in the world, there is currently limited knowledge on Cryptosporidium infection mechanisms, incomplete codification of diagnostic methods, and a need for additional therapeutic options. In response, the Seventh International Giardia and Cryptosporidium Conference (IGCC 2019) was hosted from 23 to 26 June 2019, at the Rouen …

Sharing the Knowledge: NIH Award Supports Expanded Genomics Data Resource

Donna Huber on October 29, 2019

By: Alan Flurry A team led by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Georgia provides thousands of researchers around the world with access to the Eukaryotic Pathogen Genomics Database (EuPathDB.org), a collection of resources for analyzing large-scale datasets associated with microbial pathogens. These include the parasites responsible for malaria, sleeping sickness, and …

Clinically silent relapsing malaria may still pose a threat

Donna Huber on September 23, 2019

The immune system can control a relapsing form of malaria enough to avoid clinical signs of disease, but it doesn’t eliminate transmissible parasites from the body that may still be infectious to mosquitoes. That’s the conclusion of a study on a nonhuman primate model of Plasmodium vivax infection, which has implications relevant to malaria elimination strategies. Keep …

Accessing Cryptosporidium Omic and Isolate Data via CryptoDB.org

Donna Huber on August 27, 2019

Cryptosporidium has historically been a difficult organism to work with, and molecular genomic data for this important pathogen have typically lagged behind other prominent protist pathogens. CryptoDB ( http://cryptodb.org/ ) was launched in 2004 following the appearance of draft genome sequences for both C. parvum and C. hominis. CryptoDB merged with the EuPathDB Bioinformatics Resource …

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