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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

An Experimental Model to Study Tuberculosis-Malaria Coinfection upon Natural Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Plasmodium berghei
Published on: February 17, 2014
The surface-mosaic model in host-parasite relationships
J Santiago Mejia1, Fernando Moreno, Carlos Muskus
1Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Central receiving 200 W. Lake St. Campus Delivery 1619, CO 80523, USA. santiago.mejia@colostate.edu <santiago.mejia@colostate.edu>
Abstract:
The dynamics of protein adsorption to a microbial surface could be of significance in host-parasite relationships because non-defense proteins might interfere with the binding of defense proteins. A surface mosaic of defense and non-defense proteins formed on the microbial surface could activate one of the tissue reactivity programs via a binary code (help or silence) generated by the adsorbed proteins. Understanding the mechanisms of the mosaic formation and its evolution might help to identify evasion mechanisms used by virulent microorganisms. This also provides a conceptual framework to design new strategies to control the infectious diseases they cause.
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