Molecular Biology Commons^™

Investigation Of Bradyzoite Differentiation Initiation In Toxoplasma Gondii, Harim I. Won, Paul H. Davis Ph.D.

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Like other eukaryotic organisms, Toxoplasma gondii promoters feature both constitutive and life-stage regulated cis-elements. Using a transcriptomic microarray approach, a cluster of transcripts upregulated early during bradyzoite differentiation was identified. Computational analysis of the promoter regions of these “up-early” transcripts identified a shared upstream consensus motif, a putative transcription factor binding site. Using a dual luciferase assay adapted for recombinational cloning and reporter gene quantification by qPCR, we demonstrate developmental stage-specific expression of the luciferase reporter gene inserted downstream of the transcription factor binding site. The shared consensus motif was found to be an autonomous cis-element by conversion …