Identification of variant-specific surface proteins in Giardia muris trophozoites.

ABSTRACT: Giardia lamblia undergoes antigenic variation, a process that might allow the parasite to evade the host's immune response and adapt to different environments. Here we show that Giardia muris, a related species that naturally infects rodents, possesses multiple variant-specific surface proteins (VSPs) and expresses VSPs on its surface, suggesting that it undergoes antigenic variation similar to that of G. lamblia.

SUBMITTER: Ropolo AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1201240 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature