title: Morphological and Molecular Descriptors of the Developmental Cycle of Babesia divergens Parasites in Human Erythrocytes.
abstract: Human babesiosis, especially caused by the cattle derived Babesia divergens parasite, is on the increase, resulting in renewed attentiveness to this potentially life threatening emerging zoonotic disease. The molecular mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology and intra-erythrocytic development of these parasites are poorly understood. This impedes concerted efforts aimed at the discovery of novel anti-babesiacidal agents. By applying sensitive cell biological and molecular functional genomics tools, we describe the intra-erythrocytic development cycle of B. divergens parasites from immature, mono-nucleated ring forms to bi-nucleated paired piriforms and ultimately multi-nucleated tetrads that characterizes zoonotic Babesia spp. This is further correlated for the first time to nuclear content increases during intra-erythrocytic development progression, providing insight into the part of the life cycle that occurs during human infection. High-content temporal evaluation elucidated the contribution of the different stages to life cycle progression. Moreover, molecular descriptors indicate that B. divergens parasites employ physiological adaptation to in vitro cultivation. Additionally, differential expression is observed as the parasite equilibrates its developmental stages during its life cycle. Together, this information provides the first temporal evaluation of the functional transcriptome of B. divergens parasites, information that could be useful in identifying biological processes essential to parasite survival for future anti-babesiacidal discoveries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rossouw
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maritz-Olivier
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Jandeli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niemand
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Riette
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Biljon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Annel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smit
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, African Centre for Gene Technologies (ACGT) Microarray facility, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Olivier
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Lyn-Marie
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Birkholtz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001403:Babesia / Q000254:growth & development*; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000469:parasitology*; D002417:Cattle / Q000469:parasitology; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000235:genetics*; D013987:Ticks / Q000469:parasitology; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000469:parasitology