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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Studying Inherited Immunity in a Caenorhabditis elegans Model of Microsporidia Infection
Published on: April 6, 2022
Genome evolution in intracellular parasites: Microsporidia and Apicomplexa
Amjad Khalaf1, Ore Francis1, Mark L Blaxter1
1Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK.
Abstract:
Microsporidia and Apicomplexa are eukaryotic, single-celled, intracellular parasites with huge public health and economic importance. Typically, these parasites are studied separately, emphasizing their uniqueness and diversity. In this review, we explore the huge amount of genomic data that has recently become available for the two groups. We compare and contrast their genome evolution and discuss how their transitions to intracellular life may have shaped it. In particular, we explore genome reduction and compaction, genome expansion and ploidy, gene shuffling and rearrangements, and the evolution of centromeres and telomeres.
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