Construction of Toxoplasma gondii bradyzoite expressing the green fluorescent protein.
The bradyzoite stage of Toxoplasma gondii is a key step in the parasite life cycle. For a better understanding of this stage, a sensitive system to detect the tissue cysts would be required. In this study, we generated the T. gondii cyst-forming strain PLK expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under control of the dense granule protein 1 promoter, which works at both the tachyzoite and the bradyzoite stages. The bradyzoites with GFP fluorescence within both small and large cysts were detectable in the brain of mice infected with the recombinant PLK. Indeed, the bradyzoites expressing GFP had infectivity to mice. This study shows that transfection of the cyst-forming strain with GFP gene under control of the GRA1 promoter could be a useful approach for the study of the bradyzoite stage of T. gondii.
Nishikawa
Yoshifumi
Y
National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
Zhang
Houshuang
H
Ibrahim
Hany M
HM
Ui
Fumiki
F
Ogiso
Ayako
A
Xuan
Xuenan
X
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000469:parasitology*; D014709:Vero Cells; D014774:Virulence
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins