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Author Spotlight: Identifying Compensatory Pathways in Malaria Parasites Containing Hypomorphic Allele of Essential Protein Kinases
Published on: November 22, 2024
Essential Genes of the Parasitic Apicomplexa
Jenna Oberstaller1, Thomas D Otto2, Julian C Rayner3
1Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and USF Genomics Program, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 3720 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 404, Tampa, FL 33612, USA.
Abstract:
Genome-scale mutagenesis screens for genes essential for apicomplexan parasite survival have been completed in three species: Plasmodium falciparum, the major human malaria parasite, Plasmodium berghei, a model rodent malaria parasite, and the more distantly related Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis. These three species share 2606 single-copy orthologs, 1500 of which have essentiality data in all three screens. In this review, we explore the overlap between these datasets to define the core essential genes of the phylum Apicomplexa. We further discuss the implications of these groundbreaking studies for understanding apicomplexan parasite biology, and we identify promising areas of focus for developing new pan-apicomplexan parasite interventions.
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