The role of the primary cilium in key signaling pathways depends on dynamic regulation of ciliary membrane protein composition, yet we know little about the motors or membrane events that regulate ciliary membrane protein trafficking in existing organelles. Recently, we showed that cilium-generated signaling in Chlamydomonas induced rapid, anterograde IFT-independent, cytoplasmic microtubule-de...

Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) have been reported to become infected with Toxoplasma gondii and at times succumb to clinical disease. Here, we determined genotypes of 39 T. gondii isolates from 37 sea otters in two geographically distant locations (25 from California and 12 from Washington). Six genotypes were identified using 10 PCR-RFLP genetic markers including SAG1, SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22...

We evaluated the effect of vaccination with the SAG1 protein of Toxoplasma gondii against congenital toxoplasmosis in mice with different genetic backgrounds. In BALB/c mice (H-2(d)), vaccination reduced the number of infected fetuses by 50% and was associated with a mixed type 1 and type 2 immunity. In CBA/J mice (H-2(k)), vaccination increased the number of infected fetuses by 50% and was ass...

BACKGROUND The differentiation between acute and latent forms of the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection is still considered as a complicated issue. This study was aimed to elucidate the status of infection in the blood donors and the probable importance of blood transfusion in the transmission of the infection through detecting both immunological and genetic markers of acute and latent inf...

to determine the seroprevalence of anti-neospora caninum and anti-toxoplasma gondii antibodies indogs in iran and to investigate related risk factors to the infection, a study was conducted in chaharmahal vabakhtiari, isfahan and khoozestan provinces, locate in west central parts of iran. for this, 548 serum samples were collected from dogs during an 18 month period from july 2007 to february 2...

The role of specific microbial Ags in the induction of experimental inflammatory bowel disease is poorly understood. Oral infection of susceptible C57BL/6 mice with Toxoplasma gondii results in a lethal ileitis within 7-9 days postinfection. An immunodominant Ag of T. gondii (surface Ag 1 (SAG1)) that induces a robust B and T cell-specific response has been identified and a SAG1-deficient paras...

The role of mast cells (MCs) in Toxoplasma gondii infection is poorly known. Kunming outbred mice were infected intraperitoneally with RH strain T. gondii, either treated with compound 48/80 (C48/80, MC activator) or disodium cromoglycate (DSCG, MC inhibitor). Compared with infected controls, infected mice treated with C48/80 exhibited significantly increased inflammation in the liver (P < 0.01...

The use of recombinant viral vectors expressing T. gondii antigens is a safe and efficient approach to induce immune response against the parasite and a valuable tool for vaccine development. We have previously protected mice from toxoplasmosis by immunizing the animals with an adenovirus expressing the protein SAG1 (AdSAG1) of T. gondii. We are now looking for ways to improve the vaccination s...