Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2026

Nucleofection and In Vivo Propagation of Chicken Eimeria Parasites
Published on: February 14, 2020
Concatenated mitochondrial DNA of the coccidian parasite Eimeria tenella
Kenji Hikosaka1, Yutaka Nakai, Yoh-ichi Watanabe
1International Research Center of Infectious Diseases, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
Abstract:
Apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, pathogens causing malaria, and the genera Babesia and Theileria, aetiological agents of piroplasmosis, are closely related. However, their mitochondrial (mt) genome structures are highly divergent: Plasmodium has a concatemer of 6-kb unit and Babesia/Theileria a monomer of 6.6- to 8.2-kb with terminal inverted repeats. Fragmentation of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and gene arrangements are remarkably distinctive. To elucidate the evolutionary origin of this structural divergence, we determined the mt genome of Eimeria tenella, pathogens of coccidiosis in domestic fowls. Analysis revealed that E. tenella mt genome was concatemeric with similar protein-coding genes and rRNA gene fragments to Plasmodium. Copy number was 50-fold of the nuclear genome. Evolution of structural divergence in the apicomplexan mt genomes is discussed.
More Related Videos
06:57Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assays for the Species-specific Detection of Eimeria that Infect Chickens
Published on: February 20, 2015
12:36In vitro tRNA Methylation Assay with the Entamoeba histolytica DNA and tRNA Methyltransferase Dnmt2 (Ehmeth) Enzyme
Published on: October 19, 2010
Related Concept Videos
Animal Mitochondrial Genetics
Diversity of Protists I
Trichomoniasis
Amebiasis
Genomic DNA in Eukaryotes
Comparing Mitochondrial, Chloroplast, and Prokaryotic Genomes