High impact information on Apicomplexa

• Two of these, uridine kinase-uracil phosphoribosyltransferase and thymidine kinase, are unique to C. parvum within the phylum Apicomplexa [1].
• We have examined enolases from a wide variety of algae, as well as ciliates (close relatives of apicomplexa), to determine whether lateral transfer can account for the origin of the apicomplexan enolase [2].
• Gene discovery by EST sequencing in Toxoplasma gondii reveals sequences restricted to the Apicomplexa [3].
• These findings provide important insights into the low cytosolic abundance and unique turnover characteristics of actin polymers in parasites of the phylum Apicomplexa [4].
• A family of intramembrane serine proteases called rhomboids have now been identified within Apicomplexa, and one Toxoplasma rhomboid has been localized to the posterior end of the parasite [5].

Biological context of Apicomplexa

• Papers from the COST Action 857 Workshop V Biodiversity and population genetics of the Apicomplexa (Congress Centre of the Bambino Gesu Hospital, Rome, November 8-9, 2004) [6].
• Rhomboid-like proteins in Apicomplexa: phylogeny and nomenclature [7].

Anatomical context of Apicomplexa

• Immunodetection of the microvillous cytoskeleton molecules villin and ezrin in the parasitophorous vacuole wall of Cryptosporidium parvum (Protozoa: Apicomplexa) [8].

Associations of Apicomplexa with chemical compounds

• The resurgence of drug-resistant apicomplexa, in particular Plasmodium falciparum, the most fatal human malarial parasite, has focused attention on the recent discovery of the shikimate pathway in these organisms, as it may provide the urgently required, novel drug targets resulting from the absence of this pathway in mammals [9].
• Moreover, flurazepam was found to be active against Toxoplasma gondii, another member of the phylum Apicomplexa [10].
• Compound 1 inhibits the growth of several related protozoan parasites of the subphylum Apicomplexa [11].
• This bifunctional organisation of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase II is unique, so far, to protozoan parasites from the phylum Apicomplexa (Plasmodium, Babesia, Toxoplasma) or zoomastigina (Trypanosoma, Leishmania) [12].
• Occurrence of Perkinsus olseni (Protozoa: Apicomplexa) and other parasites in the venerid commercial clam Pitar rostrata from Uruguay, southwestern Atlantic coast [13].

Gene context of Apicomplexa

• The apicomplexa parasite Toxoplasma gondii expresses two distinct proliferating cell nuclear antigens (PCNA) that exhibit distinct patterns of subcellular localization during tachyzoite growth [14].
• Catalase is a potent H2O2-detoxifying enzyme, which is unexpectedly absent in some members of the Kinetoplastida and Apicomplexa, but present in Toxoplasma gondii [15].
• We have identified additional SRCAP-like sequences in Apicomplexa for comparison by screening genomic databases [16].
• In Toxoplasma gondii, an essential activity called microneme protein protease 1 (MPP1) cleaves secreted adhesive proteins within their transmembrane domains, at a site conserved in similar proteins of other Apicomplexa [7].
• To determine whether multivesicular body endosomal intermediates are formed in Apicomplexa, we used the Plasmodium falciparum homolog of the class E gene, Vps4, as a probe [17].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Apicomplexa

• The effect of three polyether antibiotics (monensin, salinomycin, lasalocid) on developmental stages of Eimeria tenella (Coccidia, Sporozoa) was studied in vivo and in vitro by means of light and electron microscopy [18].

References