Project description:Human babesiosis, especially caused by the cattle derived Babesia divergens parasite, is on the increase, resulting in renewed attentiveness to this potentially life threatening emerging zoonotic disease. The molecular mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology and intra-erythrocytic development of these parasites are poorly understood. This impedes concerted efforts aimed at the discovery of novel anti-babesiacidal agents. By applying sensitive cell biological and molecular functional genomics tools, we describe the intra-erythrocytic development cycle of B. divergens parasites from immature, mono-nucleated ring forms to bi-nucleated paired piriforms and ultimately multi-nucleated tetrads that characterizes zoonotic Babesia spp. This is further correlated for the first time to nuclear content increases during intra-erythrocytic development progression, providing insight into the part of the life cycle that occurs during human infection. High-content temporal evaluation elucidated the contribution of the different stages to life cycle progression. Moreover, molecular descriptors indicate that B. divergens parasites employ physiological adaptation to in vitro cultivation. Additionally, differential expression is observed as the parasite equilibrates its developmental stages during its life cycle. Together, this information provides the first temporal evaluation of the functional transcriptome of B. divergens parasites; information that could be useful in identifying biological processes essential to parasite survival for future anti-babesiacidal discoveries.
Project description:Human babesiosis, especially caused by the cattle derived Babesia divergens parasite, is on the increase, resulting in renewed attentiveness to this potentially life threatening emerging zoonotic disease. The molecular mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology and intra-erythrocytic development of these parasites are poorly understood. This impedes concerted efforts aimed at the discovery of novel anti-babesiacidal agents. By applying sensitive cell biological and molecular functional genomics tools, we describe the intra-erythrocytic development cycle of B. divergens parasites from immature, mono-nucleated ring forms to bi-nucleated paired piriforms and ultimately multi-nucleated tetrads that characterizes zoonotic Babesia spp. This is further correlated for the first time to nuclear content increases during intra-erythrocytic development progression, providing insight into the part of the life cycle that occurs during human infection. High-content temporal evaluation elucidated the contribution of the different stages to life cycle progression. Moreover, molecular descriptors indicate that B. divergens parasites employ physiological adaptation to in vitro cultivation. Additionally, differential expression is observed as the parasite equilibrates its developmental stages during its life cycle. Together, this information provides the first temporal evaluation of the functional transcriptome of B. divergens parasites; information that could be useful in identifying biological processes essential to parasite survival for future anti-babesiacidal discoveries. Two-condition experiment, Untreated vs.Treated B. divergens parasites, cultured in human erythrocytes. Treatment with a piperidinyl-benzimidizalone analogue. Biological replicates: 3 untreated (control) replicates, 3 treated replicates. The 6-sample dataset represents untreated(control) vs pooled_reference samples at various timepoints.
Project description:The study comprehends two consecutive LC-QqQ/MS analyses of Babesia divergens merozoite extracts isolated from B. divergens infected red blood cell cultures performed under identical chromatographic conditions and targeting distinct transitions corresponding to metabolites from specific pathways including the glycolysis, the TCA cycle, the pentose phosphate pathway, purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis and amino acid metabolism.
Project description:To understand Babesia gene regulation during tick and mammalian host infection, we performed high throughput RNA-sequencing using samples collected from calves and Rhipicephalus microplus ticks infected with Babesia bigemina. We evaluated gene expression differences between B. bigemina kinetes and blood-stage parasites
Project description:Geographical distinct virulent Babesia bovis strains have similar gene expression changes as they go through attenuation. Pair end RNA-sequencing reads on three biological replicate sample pairs of virulent parent and attenuated derivative Babesia bovis strain isolated in Argentina.
Project description:Babesia parasites transition between a mammalian host, where they cause babesiosis, and the tick vector that transmits them. This transition provides an environmental signal resulting in altered gene expression allowing the completion of the parasite’s life cycle. A comparison of the different life stages that occur within mammalian and tick hosts can provide insight into the adaptation of Babesia to these different environments. In this study, we used RNA-Seq to compare gene expression between Babesia bovis blood stages and tick derived kinetes.
