Parasitology Commons^™

Forensic Palynological Analysis Of Intestinal Contents Of A Korean Mummy, Paulette Arguelles, Karl Reinhard, Dong Hoon Shin

Karl Reinhard Publications

Experimental studies show that pollen resides in the intestinal tract for a minimum of seven days to at least 21 days. Because of this long residence time, pollen analysis is an important avenue of forensic research. Pollen provides evidence of the environment of the decedent as well as foods and medicine. We analyzed a coprolite recovered from a Korean mummy. The decedent was a high-ranking general who lived during the 16th or 17th centuries. Twenty pollen types were recovered. These ranged from 100s to 10,000s of pollen grains per gram of coprolite. Importantly, comparison of the coprolite pollen spectrum to …

Evolution Of Hematophagous Habit In Triatominae (Heteroptera: Reduviidae), Fernando Otálora-Luna, Antonio J. Pérez-Sánchez, Claudia Sandoval, Elis Aldana

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

All members of Triatominae subfamily (Heteroptera: Reduviidae), potential vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, etiologic agent of the Chagas disease, feed on blood. Through evolution, these bugs have fixed special morphological, physiological, and behavioral aptations (adaptations and exaptations) adequate to feed on blood. Phylogeny suggests that triatomines evolved from predator reduvids which in turn descended from phytophagous hemipterans. Some pleisiomorphic traits developed by the reduvid ancestors of the triatomines facilitated and modeled hematophagy in these insects. Among them, mouthparts, saliva composition, enzymes, and digestive symbionts are the most noticeable. However, the decisive step that allowed the shift from predation to hematophagy …

Serine Palmitoyltransferase And Giardial Encystation, Monica Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Giardia lamblia is a flagellated protozoan parasite responsible for chronic diarrheal disease in humans and animals. Giardia has minimal lipid synThesis machinery and the majority of its lipids are obtained from the small intestine of humans where the trophozoites colonize. Recent results from our laboratory indicate that sphingolipids (SLs) are also important for Giardia and they regulate encystation and cyst production. Only five SL genes are present in this parasite and they are differentially regulated during encystation. In my studies, I found that giardial serine palmitoyltransferase (gSPT) activity is upregulated in encysting cells, suggesting it might play an important role …

P53 And Cancer-Associated Sialylated Glygans Are Surrogate Markers Of Cancerization Of The Bladder Associated With Schistosoma Haematobium Infection, Julio Santos, Elisabete Fernandes, Jose Alexandre Ferreira, Luis Lima, Ana Tavares, Andreia Peixoto, Beatriz Parreira, Jose Manuel Correia Da Costa, Paul J. Brindley, Carlos Lopes, Lucio L. Santos

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Background

Bladder cancer is a significant health problem in rural areas of Africa and the Middle East where Schistosoma haematobium is prevalent, supporting an association between malignant transformation and infection by this blood fluke. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms linking these events are poorly understood. Bladder cancers in infected populations are generally diagnosed at a late stage since there is a lack of non-invasive diagnostic tools, hence enforcing the need for early carcinogenesis markers.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Forty-three formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded bladder biopsies of S. haematobium-infected patients, consisting of bladder tumours, tumour adjacent mucosa and pre-malignant/malignant urothelial lesions, were screened for bladder …

Development Of A Turkey Coccidiosis Vaccine Candidate: An Attenuated Line Of The Protozoan Parasite, Eimeria Meleagrimitis, Thilakar Rathinam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coccidiosis is an economically important enteric disease of poultry caused by protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Eimeria. Drugs are most commonly used to control coccidiosis. Widespread usage of anticoccidial drugs in the field has resulted in development of drug resistant strains and consequently decreased drug efficacy. An alternative control strategy using attenuated vaccines is desired. A series of experiments was designed to identify, isolate and attenuate a strain of a common and pathogenic species of Eimeria of turkeys, E. meleagrimitis.

Sensitivity of field isolates of turkey coccidia to the anticoccidials drugs amprolium, clopidol, diclazuril, and monensin was investigated. A …

Strengthening Neglected Tropical Disease Research Through Enhancing Research-Site Capacity: An Evaluation Of A Novel Web Application To Facilitate Research Collections, Tanzin Furtado, Samuel Franzen, Francois Van Loggerenberg, Gwenaelle Carn, Shannon Grahek, Megan Mcbride, Maureen Power, Barbara Savarese, Margaret Ann Snowden, Gwynn Stevens, Almarie Uys, Trudie Lang

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Establishing Tobacco Origin From Pollen Identification: An Approach To Resolving The Debate, Shane Williams, Shelby Hubbard, Karl Reinhard, Sérgio Augusto De Miranda Chaves

Karl Reinhard Publications

Previous research into pollen content of tobacco resulted in a debate. We address this debate and determine that pollen analysis may be able to assist with identifying geographical origin of tobacco. However, the value of any results should be assessed on a case-by-case regional basis until sufficient database information is available for an objective interpretation to be undertaken on a global basis. As a first step toward developing comparative data for South America, we analyzed a tobacco sample from Brazil in an effort to identify signature taxa from the state of Minas Gerais. We also assessed the role of honey …

Assessment Of Anthelmintic Efficacy Of Mebendazole In School Children In Six Countries Where Soil-Transmitted Helminths Are Endemic, Bruno Levecke, Antonio Montresor, Marco Albonico, Shaali M. Ame, Jerzy M. Behnke, Jeffrey M. Bethony, +15 Additional Authors

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND:

Robust reference values for fecal egg count reduction (FECR) rates of the most widely used anthelmintic drugs in preventive chemotherapy (PC) programs for controlling soil-transmitted helminths (STHs; Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworm) are still lacking. However, they are urgently needed to ensure detection of reduced efficacies that are predicted to occur due to growing drug pressure. Here, using a standardized methodology, we assessed the FECR rate of a single oral dose of mebendazole (MEB; 500 mg) against STHs in six trials in school children in different locations around the world. Our results are compared with those previously obtained …

Genetics Of The Pig Tapeworm In Madagascar Reveal A History Of Human Dispersal And Colonization, Tetsuya Yanagida, Jean-François Carod, Yasuhito Sako, Minoru Nakao, Eric P. Hoberg, Akira Ito

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

An intricate history of human dispersal and geographic colonization has strongly affected the distribution of human pathogens. The pig tapeworm Taenia solium occurs throughout the world as the causative agent of cysticercosis, one of the most serious neglected tropical diseases. Discrete genetic lineages of T. solium in Asia and Africa/Latin America are geographically disjunct; only in Madagascar are they sympatric. Linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence has indicated that the people in Madagascar have mixed ancestry from Island Southeast Asia and East Africa. Hence, anthropogenic introduction of the tapeworm from Southeast Asia and Africa had been postulated. This study shows that …

Differential Spatial Repositioning Of Activated Genes In Biomphalaria Glabrata Snails Infected With Schistosoma Mansoni, Halime D. Arican-Goktas, Wannaporn Ittiprasert, Joanna M. Bridger, Matty Knight

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Schistosomiasis is an infectious disease infecting mammals as the definitive host and fresh water snails as the intermediate host. Understanding the molecular and biochemical relationship between the causative schistosome parasite and its hosts will be key to understanding and ultimately treating and/or eradicating the disease. There is increasing evidence that pathogens that have co-evolved with their hosts can manipulate their hosts' behaviour at various levels to augment an infection. Bacteria, for example, can induce beneficial chromatin remodelling of the host genome. We have previously shown in vitro thatBiomphalaria glabrata embryonic cells co-cultured with schistosome miracidia display genes changing their …

Aquastella Gen. Nov.: A New Genus Of Saprolegniaceous Oomycete Rotifer Parasites Related To Aphanomyces, With Unique Sporangial Outgrowths, Daniel P. Molloy, Sally L. Glockling, Clifford A. Siegfried, Gordon W. Beakes, Timothy Y. James, Sergey E. Mastitsky, Elizabeth S. Wurdak, Laure Giamberini, Michael J. Gaylo, Michael J. Nemeth

Biology Faculty Publications

The oomycete genus Aquastella is described to accommodate two new species of parasites of rotifers observed in Brooktrout Lake, New York State, USA. Three rotifer species – Keratella taurocephala,Polyarthra vulgaris, and Ploesoma truncatum – were infected, and this is the first report of oomycete infection in these species. Aquastella attenuata was specific to K. taurocephala and Aquastella aciculariswas specific to P. vulgaris and P. truncatum. The occurrence of infections correlated with peak host population densities and rotifers were infected in the upper layers of the water column. Sequencing of 18S rRNA and phylogenetic analysis of …

A Likelihood Approach To Estimate The Number Of Co-Infections, Kristian A. Schneider, Ananias A. Escalante

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Article abstract:

The number of co-infections of a pathogen (multiplicity of infection or MOI) is a relevant parameter in epidemiology as it relates to transmission intensity. Notably, such quantities can be built into a metric in the context of disease control and prevention. Having applications to malaria in mind, we develop here a maximum-likelihood (ML) framework to estimate the quantities of interest at low computational and no additional costs to study designs or data collection. We show how the ML estimate for the quantities of interest and corresponding confidence-regions are obtained from multiple genetic loci. Assuming specifically that infections are …

Paleoparasitological Studies On Mummies Of The Joseon Dynasty, Korea, Min Seo, Adauto Araújo, Karl J. Reinhard, Jong Yil Chai, Dong Hoon Shin

Karl Reinhard Publications

Paleoparasitology is the application of conventional or molecular investigative techniques to archeological samples in order to reveal parasitic infection patterns among past populations. Although pioneering studies already have reported key paleoparasitological findings around the world, the same sorts of studies had not, until very recently, been conducted in sufficient numbers in Korea. Mummified remains of individuals dating to the Korean Joseon Dynasty actually have proved very meaningful to concerned researchers, owing particularly to their superb preservation status, which makes them ideal subjects for paleoparasitological studies. Over the past several years, our study series on Korean mummies has yielded very pertinent …

Cystic Echinococcoses In Mongolia: Molecular Identification, Serology And Risk Factors, Akira Ito, Temuulen Dorjsuren, Anu Davaasuren, Tetsuya Yanagida, Yasuhito Sako, Kazuhiro Nakaya, Minoru Nakao, Oyun-Erdene Bat-Ochir, Tsendjav Ayushkhuu, Narantuya Bazarragchaa, Nyamkhuu Gonchigsengee, Tiaoying Li, Gurbadam Agvaandaram, Abmed Davaajav, Chinchuluun Boldbaatar, Gantigmaa Chuluunbaatar

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Abstract

Background

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a globally distributed cestode zoonosis that causes hepatic cysts. Although Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (s.s.) is the major causative agent of CE worldwide, recent molecular epidemiological studies have revealed that E. canadensis is common in countries where camels are present. One such country is Mongolia.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Forty-three human hepatic CE cases that were confirmed histopathologically at the National Center of Pathology (NCP) in Ulaanbaatar (UB) were identified by analysis of mitochondrial cox1 gene as being caused by either E. canadensis (n = 31, 72.1%) or E. granulosus s.s. ( …

Urinary Estrogen Metabolites And Self-Reported Infertility In Women Infected With Schistosoma Haematobium, Julio Santos, Maria Joao Gouveia, Nuno Vale, Maria De Lurdes Delgado, Ana Goncalves, Gabriel Rinaldi, Paul J. Brindley, +10 Additional Authors

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Background

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease, endemic in 76 countries, that afflicts more than 240 million people. The impact of schistosomiasis on infertility may be underestimated according to recent literature. Extracts of Schistosoma haematobium include estrogen-like metabolites termed catechol-estrogens that down regulate estrogen receptors alpha and beta in estrogen responsive cells. In addition, schistosome derived catechol-estrogens induce genotoxicity that result in estrogen-DNA adducts. These catechol estrogens and the catechol-estrogen-DNA adducts can be isolated from sera of people infected with S. haematobium. The aim of this study was to study infertility in females infected with S. haematobium and its …

Suppression Of Basophil Histamine-Release And Other Ige-Dependent Responses In Childhood Schistosoma Mansoni Hookworm Co-Infection, Angela Pinot De Moira, Colin M. Fitzsimmons, Frances M. Jones, Shona Wilson, Pierre Cahen, Edridah Tukahebwa, Harriet Mpairwe, Joseph K. Mwatha, Jeffrey M. Bethony, Per S. Skov, Narcis B. Kabatereine, David W. Dunne

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Background. The poor correlation between allergen-specific-IgE (asIgE) and clinical signs of allergy in helminth infected populations suggests that helminth infections could protect against allergy by uncoupling asIgE from its effector mechanisms. We investigated this hypothesis in Ugandan schoolchildren coinfected with Schistosoma mansoni and hookworm.

Methods. Skin prick test (SPT) sensitivity to house dust mite allergen (HDM) and current wheeze were assessed pre-anthelmintic treatment. Non-specific (anti-IgE), helminth-specific and HDM-allergen-specific basophil histamine release (HR), plus helminth- and HDM-specific IgE and IgG4 responses were measured pre- and post-treatment.

Results. Non-specific- and helminth-specific-HR, and associations between helminth-specific-IgE and helminth-specific-HR increased post-treatment. Hookworm infection appeared …

Pathogenic Mechanisms And Signaling Pathways In Plasmodium Falciparum, Jennifer L. Sedillo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Plasmodium falciparum is a human intracellular parasite that is the causative agent of a deadly form of malaria. This species alone is responsible for 200 million cases of malaria annually resulting in over 1 million deaths worldwide. The excessive mortality due to P. falciparum infection is due to its ability to cause severe pathogenesis through hyperparasitemia and cytoadherence defined as the ability of infected red blood cells to adhere to host vasculature. Cytoadherence is mediated through the export of parasite proteins to the surface of the infected red blood cell (RBC). Exported proteins have been identified but the pathway for …

An Immunomics Approach To Schistosome Antigen Discovery: Antibody Signatures Of Naturally Resistant And Chronically Infected Individuals From Endemic Areas, Soraya Gaze, Patrick Driguez, Mark S. Pearson, Tiago Mendes, Denise L. Doolan, Jeffrey M. Bethony, +14 Additional Authors

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease that is responsible for almost 300,000 deaths annually. Mass drug administration (MDA) is used worldwide for the control of schistosomiasis, but chemotherapy fails to prevent reinfection with schistosomes, so MDA alone is not sufficient to eliminate the disease, and a prophylactic vaccine is required. Herein, we take advantage of recent advances in systems biology and longitudinal studies in schistosomiasis endemic areas in Brazil to pilot an immunomics approach to the discovery of schistosomiasis vaccine antigens. We selected mostly surface-derived proteins, produced them using an in vitro rapid translation system and then printed them to …

Molecular Evidence For Vector Implication Of Onchocerca Lupi In Los Angeles County, Ca, Shanna June Bolcen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Onchocerca is a genus of roundworm most commonly associated with the human infection onchocerciasis, or river blindness. While typically a zoonotic infection of ungulate populations, canine cases (Onchocerca lupi) have been identified in the United States and Greece. In 2012, Los Angeles County, Veterinary Public Health Program identified 3 cases of Onchocerca spp. infections in domestic canines. Samples from the ensuing blackfly collections were sent to the Global Health Infectious Disease Research Unnasch Laboratory for parasite isolation and vector species identification. Species-specific primers were designed and optimized for O. lupi using a non- specific cytochrome oxidase (COI) gene target (689bp) …

Chagas Disease In The 21st Century: A Public Health Success Or An Emerging Threat?, Kevin M. Bonney

Publications and Research

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is a major public health burden in Latin America and a potentially serious emerging threat to a number of countries throughout the world. Although public health programs have significantly reduced the prevalence of Chagas disease in Latin America in recent decades, the number of infections in the United States and non-endemic countries in Europe and the Western Pacific Region continues to rise. Moreover, there is still no vaccine or highly effective cure available for the approximately 10 million people currently infected with T. cruzi, a third of which will develop potentially …

Genome Of The Human Hookworm Necator Americanus, Yat T. Tang, Xin Gao, Bruce A. Rosa, Sahar Abubucker, Kymberlie Hallsworth-Pepin, Peter J. Hotez, Jeffrey M. Bethony, +23 Additional Authors

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

The hookworm Necator americanus is the predominant soil-transmitted human parasite. Adult worms feed on blood in the small intestine, causing iron-deficiency anemia, malnutrition, growth and development stunting in children, and severe morbidity and mortality during pregnancy in women. We report sequencing and assembly of the N. americanus genome (244 Mb, 19,151 genes). Characterization of this first hookworm genome sequence identified genes orchestrating the hookworm's invasion of the human host, genes involved in blood feeding and development, and genes encoding proteins that represent new potential drug targets against hookworms. N. americanus has undergone a considerable and unique expansion of immunomodulator proteins, …

Phages Of Non-Diary Lactococci: Isolation And Characterization Of Phi L47, A Phage Infecting The Grass Isolate Lactococcus Lactis Ssp Cremoris Dpc6860, Daniel Cavanagh, Caitríona M. Guinane, Horst Neve, Aidan Coffey, R. Paul Ross, Gerald F. Fitzgerald, Olivia Mcauliffe

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Lactococci isolated from non-dairy sources have been found to possess enhanced metabolic activity when compared to dairy strains. These capabilities may be harnessed through the use of these strains as starter or adjunct cultures to produce more diverse flavor profiles in cheese and other dairy products. To understand the interactions between these organisms and the phages that infect them, a number of phages were isolated against lactococcal strains of non-dairy origin. One such phage, ΦL47, was isolated from a sewage sample using the grass isolate L. lactis ssp. cremoris DPC6860 as a host. Visualization of phage virions by transmission electron …

Suppression Of Aquaporin, A Mediator Of Water Channel Control In The Carcinogenic Liver Fluke, Opisthorchis Viverrini, Sirikanda Thanasuwan, Supawadee Piratae, Paul J. Brindley, Alex Loukas, Sasithorn Kaewkes, Thewarach Laha

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Background

Opisthorchiasis and Opisthorchis viverrini-associated bile duct cancer represent major public health threats in Thailand and Laos. The tegument of this food borne fluke plays pivotal roles in parasite metabolism, homeostasis and osmoregulation. Excretory/secretory products also pass from the fluke to the biliary environment, products that likely underlie pathogenesis of liver fluke infection. Aquaporins (AQPs), belong to the major intrinsic protein superfamily of integral plasma membrane channel proteins that selectively transport water across cell membranes. AQPs play key roles as water and ion transport channels through the tegument of helminth parasites.

Methods

Here, two forms of AQP mRNAs from the …

Schistosomes And Snails: A Molecular Encounter, Matty Knight, Halime D. Arican-Goktas, Wannaporn Ittiprasert, Edwin C. Odoemelam, Andre N. Miller, Joanna M. Bridger

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Biomphalaria glabrata snails play an integral role in the transmission of Schistosoma mansoni, the causative agent for human schistosomiasis in the Western hemisphere. For the past two decades, tremendous advances have been made in research aimed at elucidating the molecular basis of the snail/parasite interaction. The growing concern that there is no vaccine to prevent schistosomiasis and only one effective drug in existence provides the impetus to develop new control strategies based on eliminating schistosomes at the snail-stage of the life cycle. To elucidate why a given snail is not always compatible to each and every schistosome it encounters, B. …

Schistosome And Liver Fluke Derived Catechol-Estrogens And Helminth Associated Cancers., José M. Correia Da Costa, Nuno Vale, Maria J. Gouveia, Mónica C. Botelho, Banchob Sripa, Lúcio L. Santos, Júlio H. Santos, Gabriel Rinaldi, Paul J. Brindley

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Infection with helminth parasites remains a persistent public health problem in developing countries. Three of these pathogens, the liver flukes Clonorchis sinensis, Opisthorchis viverrini and the blood fluke Schistosoma haematobium, are of particular concern due to their classification as Group 1 carcinogens: infection with these worms is carcinogenic. Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) approaches, we identified steroid hormone like (e.g., oxysterol-like, catechol estrogen quinone-like, etc.) metabolites and related DNA-adducts, apparently of parasite origin, in developmental stages including eggs of S. haematobium, in urine of people with urogenital schistosomiasis, and in the adult stage of O. viverrini. Since these kinds of …

Helminth.Net: Expansions To Nematode.Net And An Introduction To Trematode.Net, John Martin, Bruce A. Rosa, Philip Ozersky, Kymberlie Hallsworth-Pepin, Xu Zhang, Veena Bhonagiri-Palsikar, Rahul Tyagi, Qi Wang, Young-Jun Choi, Xin Gao, Samantha N. Mcnulty, Paul J. Brindley, Makedonka Mitreva

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Helminth.net (http://www.helminth.net) is the new moniker for a collection of databases: Nematode.net and Trematode.net. Within this collection we provide services and resources for parasitic roundworms (nematodes) and flatworms (trematodes), collectively known as helminths. For over a decade we have provided resources for studying nematodes via our veteran site Nematode.net (http://nematode.net). In this article, (i) we provide an update on the expansions of Nematode.net that hosts omics data from 84 species and provides advanced search tools to the broad scientific community so that data can be mined in a useful and user-friendly manner and (ii) we …

Varestrongylus Eleguneniensis Sp. N. (Nematoda: Protostrongylidae): A Widespread, Multi-Host Lungworm Of Wild North American Ungulates, With An Emended Diagnosis For The Genus And Explorations Of Biogeography, Guilherme G. Verocai, Susan J. Kutz, Manon Simard, Eric P. Hoberg

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Background: A putative new species of Varestrongylus has been recently recognized in wild North American ungulates based on the ITS-2 sequences of larvae isolated from feces during a wide geographic survey. No taxonomic description was provided, as adult specimens were not examined. Methods: Lungworm specimens were collected in the terminal bronchioles of muskoxen from Quebec, and a woodland caribou from central Alberta, Canada. The L3 stage was recovered from experimentally infected slugs (Deroceras spp.). Description of specimens was based on comparative morphology and integrated approaches. Molecular identity was determined by PCR and sequencing of the ITS-2 region of …

Air Sac Nematode Monopetalonema Alcedinis In A Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle Alcyon) In Maryland, Usa, Ellen Bronson, Kathleen Kelly, Eric P. Hoberg

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Sporadic and geographically widespread reports of parasites affecting the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) have been published but few have described details of the pathology. A female, adult kingfisher was found dead in a heavily wooded area of a zoo in Maryland, USA. At necropsy, numerous sexually dimorphic, 4.4–40.5-cm adult Monopetalonema alcedinis nematodes were found tightly wound within the coelomic cavity between organs and completely filling the caudal thoracic and abdominal air sacs. Abundant, 30–60-mm diameter, larvated, thick-walled ova were found in the bronchi and parabronchi, within the mesentery, and in the serosa of multiple coelomic organs. Monopetalonema alcedinis …

Finding Them Before They Find Us: Informatics, Parasites, And Environments In Accelerating Climate Change, Daniel R. Brooks, Eric P. Hoberg, Walter A. Boeger, Scott Lyell Gardner, Kurt E. Galbreath, David Herczeg, Hugo H. Mejía-Madrid, S. Elizabeth Rácz, Altangerel Tsogtsaikhan Dursahinhan

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Parasites are agents of disease in humans, livestock, crops, and wildlife and are powerful representations of the ecological and historical context of the diseases they cause. Recognizing a nexus of professional opportunities and global public need, we gathered at the Cedar Point Biological Station of the University of Nebraska in September 2012 to formulate a cooperative and broad platform for providing essential information about the evolution, ecology, and epidemiology of parasites across host groups, parasite groups, geographical regions, and ecosystem types. A general protocol, documentation–assessment–monitoring–action (DAMA), suggests an integrated proposal to build a proactive capacity to understand, anticipate, and respond …

Septins Of Platyhelminths: Identification, Phylogeny, Expression And Localization Among Developmental Stages Of Schistosoma Mansoni, Ana E. Zeraik, Gabriel Rinaldi, Victoria H. Mann, Anastas Popratiloff, Ana P.U. Araujo, Ricardo Demarco, Paul J. Brindley

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Septins are a family of eukaryotic GTP binding proteins conserved from yeasts to humans. Originally identified in mutants of budding yeast, septins participate in diverse cellular functions including cytokinesis, organization of actin networks, cell polarity, vesicle trafficking and many others. Septins assemble into heteroligomers to form filaments and rings. Here, four septins of Schistosoma mansoni are described, which appear to be conserved within the phylum Platyhelminthes. These orthologues were related to the SEPT5, SEPT10 and SEPT7 septins of humans, and hence we have termed the schistosome septins SmSEPT5, SmSEPT10, SmSEPT7.1 and SmSEPT7.2. Septin transcripts were detected throughout the developmental cycle …