title: Serial Dissection of Parasite Gene Families.
abstract: Calcium ion signaling regulates central aspects of the biology controlling stage and life cycle transitions of apicomplexan parasites. In the current issue of Infection and Immunity, Long and coworkers (S. Long, Q. Wang, and L. D. Sibley, Infect Immun 84:1262-1273, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/IAI.01173-15) describe a powerful genetic system enabling reliable serial genetic dissection of a large gene family encoding novel calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) that provides new insights into the roles of CDPKs during Toxoplasma gondii infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA david.j.bzik@dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Bzik
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D010271:Parasites; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000235:genetics*