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Barbara A. Burleigh
Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health

Dominique Soldati-Favre
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine
University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland

About this book

All of the parasitic organisms highlighted in this new book represent medically important human pathogens that contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. As such there is intense interest in understanding the molecular basis of infection by these pathogens—not only with regard to their clinical relevance but also the fascinating biology they reveal. For most of the parasites discussed here the ability to penetrate biological barriers and/or to establish intracellular residence is critical to survival of the pathogen in the mammalian hosts. For other parasites, a tissue invasive phenotype is a key virulence determinant. In the ensuing 18 chapters, select members of this diverse set of protozoan parasites, as well as some examples of the extremely reduced fungal parasites classified as Microsporidia, are discussed within the context of the fascinating molecular strategies employed by these organisms to migrate across biological barriers and to establish residence within target host cells.

Table of contents

SECTION I: TOOLS AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES

1. Current and Emerging Approaches to Studying Invasion in Apicomplexan Parasites
Jeffrey Mital and Gary E. Ward

2. Microneme Proteins in Apicomplexans
Vern B. Carruthers and Fiona M. Tomley

3. Erythrocyte Invasion by Plasmodium falciparum: Multiple Ligand-Receptor Interactions and Phenotypic Switching
Manoj T. Duraisingh, Tiffany DeSimone, Cameron Jennings, Philippe Refour
and Chenwei Wu

4. Role of the gp85/Trans-Sialidase Superfamily of Glycoproteins in the Interaction
of Trypanosoma cruzi with Host Structures
Maria Júlia M. Alves and Walter Colli

5. Calcium Regulation and Signaling in Apicomplexan Parasites
Kisaburo Nagamune, Silvia N. Moreno, Eduardo N. Chini and L. David Sibley

6. Trypanosoma cruzi: Parasite and Host Cell Signaling during the Invasion Process
Nobuko Yoshida and Mauro Cortez

7. Host Cell Actin Remodeling in Response to Cryptosporidium
Steven P. O’Hara, Aaron J. Small, Xian-Ming Chen and Nicholas F. LaRusso

8. Host Cell Actin Remodeling in Response to Trypanosoma cruzi: Trypomastigote Versus Amastigote Entry
Renato A. Mortara, Walter K. Andreoli, Maria Cecília D.C. Fernandes, Claudio V. da Silva, Adriana B. Fernandes, Carolina L’Abbate, and Solange da Silva

9. Actin/Myosin-Based Gliding Motility in Apicomplexan Parasites
Kai Matuschewski and Herwig Schüler

10. Roles of Proteases during Invasion and Egress by Plasmodium and Toxoplasma
Timothy J. Dowse, Konstantinos Koussis, Michael J. Blackman and Dominique Soldati-Favre

11. Roles of Naturally Occurring Protease Inhibitors in the Modulation of Host Cell Signaling and Cellular Invasion by Trypanosoma cruzi
Julio Scharfstein and Ana Paula C.A. Lima

SECTION VI: THE PARASITOPHOROUS VACUOLE

12. Biogenesis of and Activities at the Toxoplasma gondii Parasitophorous
Vacuole Membrane
Anthony P. Sinai

13. The Role of Host Cell Lysosomes in Trypanosoma cruzi Invasion
G. Adam Mott and Barbara A. Burleigh

14. Leishmania Invasion and Phagosome Biogenesis
Robert Lodge and Albert Descoteaux

15. Plasmodium Sporozoite Passage across the Sinusoidal Cell Layer
Ute Frevert, Ivan Usynin, Kerstin Baer and Christian Klotz

16. Transepithelial Migration by Toxoplasma
Antonio Barragan and Niclas Hitziger

17. The Microsporidian Polar Tube and Its Role in Invasion
Frédéric Delbac and Valérie Polonais

18. Intestinal Invasion by Entamoeba Histolytica
Shahram Solaymani-Mohammadi and William A. Petri, Jr.