Project description:Tritrichomonas foetus, a protozoan parasite responsible for bovine and feline trichomonosis, has traditionally been considered to form only pseudocysts. Here, we reveal that T. foetus produces true cysts characterized by chitin like components-rich, fibrillar walls, cytoskeletal reorganization, and resistance to detergent treatment. Cystogenesis is induced by environmental stresses such as nutrient deprivation, alkaline pH mimicking the bovine preputial milieu, and exposure to metronidazole, a frontline antiparasitic drug. This encystation enhances parasite survival and suggests a novel drug-resistance mechanism. Transcriptomic profiling identifies key pathways involved in cyst wall biosynthesis and regulation, including Myb-like transcription factors and calcium/calmodulin dependent kinases. Encysted parasites also undergo DNA replication without cytokinesis, suggesting a strategy for rapid multiplication through multiple fission upon excystation. Our findings fundamentally reshape the understanding of T. foetus biology, highlight a critical stage in its transmission cycle, and have significant implications for therapeutic and diagnostic strategies in veterinary parasitology
Project description:Two PacBio Hifi sequencing runs from the kidney of a single male NMR sample used to make the mHetGla4.1.primary genome assembly. Specifically, we assembled a second NMR genome from an unrelated male of a separate captive colony in Toronto, Canada, using PacBio HiFi (155.8 Gb, read N50 = 11.45 Kb) and ONT-LSK (299.6 Gb, read N50 = 10.1 Kb) reads (contig N50 = 75.7 Mb, Compleasm S = 98%). This accession stores the Pacbio Hifi data for this independent assembly.