Dramatic changes in gene expression in different forms of Crithidia fasciculata reveal potential mechanisms for insect-specific adhesion in kinetoplastid parasites.

ABSTRACT: Kinetoplastids are a group of parasites that includes several medically-important species. These human-infective species are transmitted by insect vectors in which the parasites undergo specific developmental transformations. For each species, this includes a stage in which parasites adhere to insect tissue via a hemidesmosome-like structure. Although this structure has been described morphologically, it has never been molecularly characterized. We are using Crithidia fasciculata, an insect parasite that produces large numbers of adherent parasites inside its mosquito host, as a model kinetoplastid to investigate both the mechanism of adherence and the signals required for differentiation to an adherent form. An advantage of C. fasciculata is that adherent parasites can be generated both i

SUBMITTER: Filosa JN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6687205 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature