Disruption of Dense Granular Protein 2 (GRA2) Decreases the Virulence of Neospora caninum.

ABSTRACT: Neospora caninum causes abortions in cattle and nervous system dysfunction in dogs. Dense granular proteins (GRAs) play important roles in virulence; however, studies on NcGRA functions are limited. In the present study, multiple methods, including site-directed mutagenesis; CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing; Western blotting; quantitative polymerase chain reaction; confocal microscopy; plaque, invasion, egress, and replication assays; animal assays of survival rate and parasite burden; and hematoxylin-eosin staining, were used to characterize the NcGRA2 protein, construct an NcGRA2 gene disruption (ΔNcGRA2) strain, and explore its virulence in vivo and vitro. The results showed that NcGRA2 shared 31.31% homology with TgGRA2 and was colocalized with NcGRA6 at the posterior end

SUBMITTER: Dong J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7933011 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature