Conserved interferon-stimulated genes that control Toxoplasma in human and porcine cells.
This study reports similar interferon-mediated anti-Toxoplasma mechanisms through IRF1 and IDO1 in human and pig cells. We found that heterologous human IRF1 expression induced anti-Toxoplasma genes and processes in porcine cells. Additionally, the expression of either human or pig IRF1 dampened Toxoplasma-induced transcriptional remodeling of porcine genes.This demonstrates the potential for the use of pig to model in vivo studies of human genes that inhibit Toxoplasma and other zoonotic pathogens controlled by interferon.