background: toxoplasmosis is a worldwide-distributed infection which is mostly asymptomatic but can cause serious health problems in congenitally-infected newborns and immunecompromised individuals. research is undergoing both to improve toxoplasma serological tests, which play the main role in laboratory diagnosis of the infection, and develop an effective vaccine to prevent the infection. som...

Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites were isolated from an ocular patient in the Republic of Korea and maintained in the laboratory (designated KI-1). In the present study, its genotype was determined by analyzing dense granule antigen 6 (GRA6) gene and surface antigen 2 (SAG2) gene as typing markers. Digestion of the amplification products of GRA6 and of the 5o and 3o ends of SAG2, respectively, with...

Introduction: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is distributed worldwide and infects most species. The serious incidence and severe or fatal injury caused by T. gondii infection clearly indicates the necessity for the event of a vaccine. The current study goals were to evaluate serological applications of Toxoplasma gondiirhoptry protein 1 (ROP1) ...

introduction: toxoplasma gondii (t. gondii) is distributed worldwide and infects most species. the serious incidence and severe or fatal injury caused by t. gondii infection clearly indicates the necessity for the event of a vaccine. the current study goals were to evaluate serological applications of toxoplasma gondiirhoptry protein 1 (rop1) antigen. materials and methods: we created a polymer...

Rho family small GTPases are signaling switches controlling many eukaryotic cellular processes. Conversion from the GDP- to GTP-bound form is catalyzed by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). Rho GEFs in animals fall into two structurally distinct classes containing DH and DOCKER catalytic domains. Using a plant Rho GTPase (ROP1) as bait in yeast two-hybrid screens, we identified a famil...

The destruction of erythrocytes is one of the most frequently observed causes of severe malarial anemia. Recently, we showed that tagging normal erythrocytes and cells of erythroid precursors with rhoptry-derived proteins can trigger their destruction. In the present study, we used rhoptry-associated protein (RAP)-1 and RAP-3 gene-disruption mutant Plasmodium falciparum parasites and showed tha...

background : rhoptries are unique secretory/excretory organelles that are found exclusively in the apicomplexa, and their contents are discharged at the time of invasion and are critical in the establishment of productive infection. several rhoptry proteins have been identified in toxoplasma gondii , plasmodium falciparum and neospora caninum and have been linked not only with the parasites’ ad...

Erythrocyte invasion by merozoites is an obligatory stage of Plasmodium infection and is essential to disease progression. Proteins in the apical organelles of merozoites mediate the invasion of erythrocytes and are potential malaria vaccine candidates. Rhoptry-associated, leucine zipper-like protein 1 (RALP1) of Plasmodium falciparum was previously found to be specifically expressed in schizon...

BACKGROUND Highly elongated eukaryotic cells (e.g., neuronal axons, fungal hyphae, and pollen tubes) are generated through continuous apically restricted growth (tip growth), which universally requires tip-localized Rho GTPases. We used the oscillating pollen tube as a model system to determine the function and regulation of Rho GTPases in tip growth. Our previous work showed that the spatiotem...

The rhoptry of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is an unusual secretory organelle that is thought to be related to secretory lysosomes in higher eukaryotes. Rhoptries contain an extensive collection of proteins that participate in host cell invasion and in the formation of the parasitophorous vacuole, but little is known about sorting signals required for rhoptry protein targeting. Us...