Population, genetic, and antigenic diversity of the apicomplexan Eimeria tenella and their relevance to vaccine development.

ABSTRACT: The phylum Apicomplexa includes serious pathogens of humans and animals. Understanding the distribution and population structure of these protozoan parasites is of fundamental importance to explain disease epidemiology and develop sustainable controls. Predicting the likely efficacy and longevity of subunit vaccines in field populations relies on knowledge of relevant preexisting antigenic diversity, population structure, the likelihood of coinfection by genetically distinct strains, and the efficiency of cross-fertilization. All four of these factors have been investigated for Plasmodium species parasites, revealing both clonal and panmictic population structures with exceptional polymorphism associated with immunoprotective antigens such as apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1). For the cocci

SUBMITTER: Blake DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4586875 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature