Maria E. Jerome

TL;DR: This work uses genetic crosses between type II and III lines to show that strain-specific differences in the modulation of host cell transcription are mediated by a putative protein kinase, ROP16, and provides a new mechanism for how an intracellular eukaryotic pathogen can interact with its host.

TL;DR: Genetic mapping revealed two closely adjacent quantitative trait loci on parasite chromosome VIIa that control the extreme virulence of the type I lineage and identified the candidate virulence gene ROP18, a highly polymorphic serine-threonine kinase that was secreted into the host cell during parasite invasion.

TL;DR: In lieu of a short or missing G2, where checkpoints are thought to operate in other eukaryotes, the bimodal replication of tachyzoite chromosomes may represent a distinct premitotic checkpoint associated with endodyogeny.

TL;DR: An interesting class of genes that are confined to members of this phylum and not shared by plants, animals, or fungi, was identified and likely mediate the novel biological features of members of the Apicomplexa.

TL;DR: Observations suggest that activation of a G2-related cell cycle mechanism is required during bradyzoite development, and indicates that equivalent cell cycle mechanisms may govern development in the intermediate life cycle regardless of the origin of infection.