Stage-regulated GFP Expression in Trypanosoma cruzi: applications from host-parasite interactions to drug screening.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas disease, an illness that affects about 10 million people, mostly in South America, for which there is no effective treatment or vaccine. In this context, transgenic parasites expressing reporter genes are interesting tools for investigating parasite biology and host-parasite interactions, with a view to developing new strategies for disease prevention and treatment. We describe here the construction of a stably transfected fluorescent T. cruzi clone in which the GFP gene is integrated into the chromosome carrying the ribosomal cistron in T. cruzi Dm28c. This fluorescent T. cruzi produces detectable amounts of GFP only at replicative stages (epimastigote and amastigote), consistent with the larger amounts of GFP mRNA detected in these for

SUBMITTER: Kessler RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3688654 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature