Research Publications (Food Safety)

mBio, Ahead of Print. The protozoan pathogen Toxoplasma gondii relies on tight regulation of gene expression to invade and establish infection in its host. The divergent gene regulatory mechanisms of Toxoplasma and related apicomplexan pathogens rely heavily on regulators of chromatin structure and histone modifications.

mBio, Ahead of Print. Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular apicomplexan parasite that relies on cyclic GMP (cGMP)-dependent signaling to trigger timely egress from host cells in response to extrinsic and intrinsic signals. A guanylate cyclase (GC) complex, conserved across the Apicomplexa, plays a pivotal role in integrating these signals, such as the key lipid mediator phosphatidic acid and changes in pH and ionic composition.

mBio, Ahead of Print. Prenyldiphosphate synthases catalyze the reaction of allylic diphosphates with one or more isopentenyl diphosphate molecules to form compounds such as farnesyl diphosphate, used in, e.g., sterol biosynthesis and protein prenylation, as well as longer “polyprenyl” diphosphates, used in ubiquinone and menaquinone biosynthesis.

mBio, Ahead of Print. Centrosomes are the main microtubule-organizing center of the cell. They are normally formed by two centrioles, embedded in a cloud of proteins known as pericentriolar material (PCM). The PCM ascribes centrioles with their microtubule nucleation capacity. Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, divides by endodyogeny. Successful cell division is critical for pathogenesis.

mBio, Ahead of Print. The intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii adapts to diverse host cell environments within a replicative compartment that is heavily decorated by secreted proteins. In an attempt to identify novel parasite secreted proteins that influence host cell activity, we identified and characterized a transmembrane dense granule protein dubbed GRA64 (TGME49_202620).