Coordinated progression through two subtranscriptomes underlies the tachyzoite cycle of Toxoplasma gondii.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Apicomplexan parasites replicate by varied and unusual processes where the typically eukaryotic expansion of cellular components and chromosome cycle are coordinated with the biosynthesis of parasite-specific structures essential for transmission.

Methodology/principal findings

Here we describe the global cell cycle transcriptome of the tachyzoite stage of Toxoplasma gondii. In dividing tachyzoites, more than a third of the mRNAs exhibit significant cyclical profiles whose timing correlates with biosynthetic events that unfold during daughter parasite formation. These 2,833 mRNAs have a bimodal organization with peak expression occurring in one of two transcriptional waves that are bounded by the transition into S phase and cell cycle exit following cytokinesis. T

SUBMITTER: Behnke MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2928733 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature