Publication Date:
2006-12-16
Description:
Toxoplasma gondii strains differ dramatically in virulence despite being genetically very similar. Genetic mapping revealed two closely adjacent quantitative trait loci on parasite chromosome VIIa that control the extreme virulence of the type I lineage. Positional cloning identified the candidate virulence gene ROP18, a highly polymorphic serine-threonine kinase that was secreted into the host cell during parasite invasion. Transfection of the virulent ROP18 allele into a nonpathogenic type III strain increased growth and enhanced mortality by 4 to 5 logs. These attributes of ROP18 required kinase activity, which revealed that secretion of effectors is a major component of parasite virulence.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Taylor, S -- Barragan, A -- Su, C -- Fux, B -- Fentress, S J -- Tang, K -- Beatty, W L -- Hajj, H El -- Jerome, M -- Behnke, M S -- White, M -- Wootton, J C -- Sibley, L D -- AI059176/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI36629/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI44600/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P20 RR-020185/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Dec 15;314(5806):1776-80.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170305" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Alleles
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Animals
;
Animals, Genetically Modified
;
Catalytic Domain
;
Chromosome Mapping
;
Chromosomes/genetics
;
Cloning, Molecular
;
Genes, Protozoan
;
Mice
;
Molecular Sequence Data
;
Movement
;
Point Mutation
;
Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism
;
Protozoan Proteins/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism
;
Quantitative Trait Loci
;
Toxoplasma/*enzymology/genetics/growth & development/*pathogenicity
;
Toxoplasmosis, Animal/mortality/parasitology
;
Transfection
;
Virulence/genetics
;
Virulence Factors/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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