De novo pyrimidine biosynthesis is required for virulence of Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous protozoan parasite that is responsible for severe congenital birth defects and fatal toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromized people. Fundamental aspects of obligate intracellular replication and pathogenesis are only now beginning to emerge for protozoan parasites. T. gondii has a fragmented pathway for salvaging pyrimidine nucleobases derived from the parasite or host cell, and this limited pyrimidine salvage capacity is funnelled exclusively through uracil phosphoribosyltransferase. Disrupting the function of this enzyme does not affect the growth of T. gondii tachyzoites, which suggests that the de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway may be necessary for growth. We have examined the virulence of T. gondii mutants that lack carbamoyl phosphate synthetase II (uracil auxotrophs) to determine whether de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis is required in vivo. Here we show that T. gondii uracil auxotrophs are completely avirulent not only in immune-competent BALB/c mice but also in mice that lack interferon-gamma. A single injection of the uracil auxotroph into BALB/c mice induces long-term protective immunity to toxoplasmosis. Our findings indicate the significance of the de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway for the virulence of parasitic protozoa, and suggest routes for developing vaccines and chemotherapy.     

Abscisic acid controls calcium-dependent egress and development in Toxoplasma gondii

Calcium controls a number of critical events, including motility, secretion, cell invasion and egress by apicomplexan parasites. Compared to animal and plant cells, the molecular mechanisms that govern calcium signalling in parasites are poorly understood. Here we show that the production of the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) controls calcium signalling within the apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, an opportunistic human pathogen. In plants, ABA controls a number of important events, including environmental stress responses, embryo development and seed dormancy. ABA induces production of the second-messenger cyclic ADP ribose (cADPR), which controls release of intracellular calcium stores in plants. cADPR also controls intracellular calcium release in the protozoan parasite T. gondii; however, previous studies have not revealed the molecular basis of this pathway. We found that addition of exogenous ABA induced formation of cADPR in T. gondii, stimulated calcium-dependent protein secretion, and induced parasite egress from the infected host cell in a density-dependent manner. Production of endogenous ABA within the parasite was confirmed by purification (using high-performance liquid chromatography) and analysis (by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). Selective disruption of ABA synthesis by the inhibitor fluridone delayed egress and induced development of the slow-growing, dormant cyst stage of the parasite. Thus, ABA-mediated calcium signalling controls the decision between lytic and chronic stage growth, a developmental switch that is central in pathogenesis and transmission. The pathway for ABA production was probably acquired with an algal endosymbiont that was retained as a non-photosynthetic plastid known as the apicoplast. The plant-like nature of this pathway may be exploited therapeutically, as shown by the ability of a specific inhibitor of ABA synthesis to prevent toxoplasmosis in the mouse model.     

弓形虫快速鉴定及国内实验动物感染调查

目的 建立弓形虫快速鉴定方法,进行国内实验动物感染调查,为国家标准的修订提供参考依据。方法 选择2012年12月至2016年12月期间全国60个不同厂家的12 394只实验动物（包括：猴290只、小型猪425只、犬579只、兔1 234只、地鼠372只、豚鼠1 363只、大鼠987只、小鼠7 144只）作为调查对象。采用ELISA方法检测动物血清中弓形虫抗体IgG和循环抗原CAg。利用PCR技术鉴定弓形虫p30基因。应用直接镜检实时动态显微视屏摄录技术识别弓形虫虫体。结果 用ELISA从12 394份动物血清中检出4份弓形虫抗体IgG阳性。在这4份抗体IgG阳性样本中都发现了弓形虫虫体和DNA。通过PCR扩增p30基因的分子特性证明了样本中弓形虫病原体的存在。通过直接镜检实时动态显微视屏摄录技术,在这些样本中发现了弓形虫速殖子。2012年12月至2016年12月期间,对12 394只实验动物调查结果显示,弓形虫感染率为0.03%（4/12 394）。结论 ELISA、PCR、直接镜检实时动态显微视屏摄录技术相结合可完成实验动物的弓形虫检验工作。国内实验动物中存在弓形虫感染。因此,建议设计合理的筛查程序用于防止动物传播的弓形虫病。有必要开发新的诊断工具,特别是快检技术用于这一重要人兽共患病的未来研究。     

Phagosome acidification blocked by intracellular Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasma gondii belongs to a group of highly virulent intracellular parasites that reside in host cell vacuoles which resist typical phagosome-lysosome fusion. Live Toxoplasma replicate prodigiously within modified phagocytic vacuoles formed during invagination of the host plasma membrane. In contrast, heat-killed Toxoplasma or specific antibody (heat-inactivated)-coated live Toxoplasma-containing vacuoles readily undergo lysosome fusion and digestion in normal macrophages. Of newly recognized significance to Toxoplasma survival is the microbicidal effect of phagosome acidification, which reportedly can occur independently of fusion with other acidic vesicles. We report here that modified live Toxoplasma-containing vacuoles fail to acidify in normal macrophages, as indicated by the sensitive pH probe fluorescein. In contrast, when live Toxoplasma are coated with specific antibody (heat-inactivated), they trigger phagosome acidification when entering normal macrophages. A similar acidification is observed when normal phagocytes ingest dead Toxoplasma. Extracellular Toxoplasma are highly susceptible to acidic pH conditions, indicating that the acidification block in the modified vacuoles may be important for intracellular survival.     

大理地区精神病患者弓形虫感染情况调查

目的：了解大理地区精神病患者弓形虫感染情况,探讨弓形虫感染与精神疾病之间的关系。方法：采用酶联免疫吸附试验对219例精神病患者及91例健康体检者进行血清弓形虫IgG抗体检测。结果：精神病患者弓形虫抗体阳性率为31．96％,健康体检者为20．88％,两者之间差异显著（P〈0．05）。结论：本地区精神病患者弓形虫抗体阳性率高于健康人群。临床医务工作者应加强对弓形虫病的认识,重视精神病患者的弓形虫感染情况．对门诊和住院病人进行常规弓形虫检测。     

RH株弓形虫抗原及高效价多克隆抗体的制备

通过制备和分析弓形虫抗原蛋白，并以此抗原制备高效价的兔抗弓形虫多克隆抗体，为弓形虫的免疫检测和诊断提供有效的方法和途径，同时也为基因工程产物的鉴定提供方便有效的检测手段．速殖子主要来源于感染后72～74h获得的腹水，通过常规方法制备和提纯弓形虫可溶性抗原，采用SDS-AGE方法分析抗原蛋白的分子量．以抗原和福氏佐剂制备成完全和不完全福氏佐剂通过脊柱两旁皮下多点免疫的途径免疫新西兰大白兔，制备兔抗弓形体多克隆抗体，间接ELISA法检测血清中抗体的效价．经过观察所获得的虫体阶段主要处在宿主细胞巨噬细胞内而尚未逸出阶段，通过对结果的分析，所制备的弓形体抗原的分子量主要集中在17～156ku之间，与文献报道有差异，兔抗弓形体抗体效价在60000以上．该研究结果将为弓形体的蛋白质研究，免疫诊断、预防及有效治疗奠定基础．     

特殊人群弓形虫感染的研究进展

目的:了解特殊人群弓形虫感染情况.方法:查阅近几年来国内外有关文献资料,了解特殊人群弓形虫感染状况.结果:特殊人群弓形虫感染率较普通人群高.结论:特殊人群对弓形虫普遍易感,应加强防治.     

广西猪瘟病毒的调查研究

１９８６～１９８９年，从广西５个地、市的１０个病猪场猪体中分离到１０个病毒。用猪瘟石门系标准强毒作对照，经病原性、抗原性及血清学试验，培养特性，血细胞吸附及病毒的形态结构观察，证明１０个毒株为猪瘟病毒。它们有共同的抗原性。它们之间的区别只是毒力的强弱不同。从临床症状、病理变化和病程方面看，９个为亚急性猪瘟毒株；一个为慢性或温和性猪瘟毒株。     

Population dynamics of Schistosoma mansoni in mice repeatedly exposed to infection

Studies of host resistance to parasite infection are usually based on experimental designs involving a primary infection and subsequent challenge exposure, resistance being recorded as the percentage reduction in parasite establishment in challenged hosts when compared with that in uninfected animals. Few studies have focused on the dynamic nature of helminth establishment and mortality (and their presumed dependency on the rate of current exposure and past experiences of infection) in hosts repeatedly exposed to low levels of infection. Here, we report the results of population studies on the dynamics of resistance to Schistosoma mansoni infection (a helminth parasite) in mice repeatedly exposed to cercarial invasion. Parasite burdens created by different levels and durations of exposure to infection reflect a dynamic interplay between rates of helminth establishment and mortality. Depending on the intensity of exposure, changes in worm load with duration of host infection vary from monotonic growth to a stable average parasite burden to convex curves in which the average load attains a maximum value before decaying in old animals. These trends are similar to observed patterns of S. mansoni infection in human communities.     

Same-sex mating and the origin of the Vancouver Island Cryptococcus gattii outbreak

Genealogy can illuminate the evolutionary path of important human pathogens. In some microbes, strict clonal reproduction predominates, as with the worldwide dissemination of Mycobacterium leprae, the cause of leprosy. In other pathogens, sexual reproduction yields clones with novel attributes, for example, enabling the efficient, oral transmission of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. However, the roles of clonal or sexual propagation in the origins of many other microbial pathogen outbreaks remain unknown, like the recent fungal meningoencephalitis outbreak on Vancouver Island, Canada, caused by Cryptococcus gattii. Here we show that the C. gattii outbreak isolates comprise two distinct genotypes. The majority of isolates are hypervirulent and have an identical genotype that is unique to the Pacific Northwest. A minority of the isolates are significantly less virulent and share an identical genotype with fertile isolates from an Australian recombining population. Genotypic analysis reveals evidence of sexual reproduction, in which the majority genotype is the predicted offspring. However, instead of the classic a-alpha sexual cycle, the majority outbreak clone appears to have descended from two alpha mating-type parents. Analysis of nuclear content revealed a diploid environmental isolate homozygous for the major genotype, an intermediate produced during same-sex mating. These studies demonstrate how cryptic same-sex reproduction can enable expansion of a human pathogen to a new geographical niche and contribute to the ongoing production of infectious spores. This has implications for the emergence of other microbial pathogens and inbreeding in host range expansion in the fungal and other kingdoms.     

Golgi biogenesis in Toxoplasma gondii

Two models have been put forward to explain the growth of new Golgi during the cell cycle. The first suggests that a new Golgi grows out of the endoplasmic reticulum by de novo synthesis. The second suggests that a pre-existing Golgi is needed for the growth of a new one, that is, the Golgi is an autonomously replicating organelle. To resolve this issue, we have exploited the simplicity of the apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which has only a single Golgi stack. Here we show, by using video fluorescence microscopy and three-dimensional reconstructions of serial thin sections, that the Golgi grows by a process of lateral extension followed by medial fission. Further fission leads to the inheritance by each daughter of a pair of Golgi structures, which then coalesce to re-form a single Golgi. Our results indicate that new Golgi grow by autonomous duplication and raise the possibility that the Golgi is a paired structure that is analogous to centrioles.     

刚刺颚口线虫流行病学调查及其幼虫对灵长类的易感性

本文报告了刚刺颚口线虫 Gnathostoma hispidum 第一、二中间宿主和转续宿主共 38种。首次证明狲猴 Macaca mulatta可充当本虫的第二中间宿主和转续宿主。用刚刺颚?线虫晚第三期幼虫经皮肤穿刺感染小白鼠和家猫均获得阳性。5种哺乳动物和4种鸟类(其中家禽2种)用同上幼虫人工感染亦获成功。流行学调查和动物实验表明本虫和棘颚口线虫G.spinigerum 的生物学和流行学特性十分相似,同样能感染人体,是人兽共患的重要寄生虫。     

Generalized Lévy walks and the role of chemokines in migration of effector CD8+ T cells

Chemokines have a central role in regulating processes essential to the immune function of T cells, such as their migration within lymphoid tissues and targeting of pathogens in sites of inflammation. Here we track T cells using multi-photon microscopy to demonstrate that the chemokine CXCL10 enhances the ability of CD8+ T cells to control the pathogen Toxoplasma gondii in the brains of chronically infected mice. This chemokine boosts T-cell function in two different ways: it maintains the effector T-cell population in the brain and speeds up the average migration speed without changing the nature of the walk statistics. Notably, these statistics are not Brownian; rather, CD8+ T-cell motility in the brain is well described by a generalized Lévy walk. According to our model, this unexpected feature enables T cells to find rare targets with more than an order of magnitude more efficiency than Brownian random walkers. Thus, CD8+ T-cell behaviour is similar to Lévy strategies reported in organisms ranging from mussels to marine predators and monkeys, and CXCL10 aids T cells in shortening the average time taken to find rare targets.     

Diethylcarbamazine enhances antibody-mediated cellular adherence to Brugia malayi microfilariae

Treatment with the antifilarial drug diethylcarbamazine (DEC) results in a rapid decline in the number of microfilariae circulating in the blood of infected hosts. DEC induces morphological changes in the surface layers of microfilariae, but these alterations alone are probably insufficient to cause the death of the parasite, because the drug fails to reduce microfilaraemia in animals lacking filarial antibodies, and also does not shorten the survival of microfilariae in vitro. The effect of DEC in vivo is thought to result from the trapping of microfilariae in the liver, where they undergo lysis.     

The effect of migration on local adaptation in a coevolving host-parasite system

Antagonistic coevolution between hosts and parasites in spatially structured populations can result in local adaptation of parasites; that is, the greater infectivity of local parasites than foreign parasites on local hosts. Such parasite specialization on local hosts has implications for human health and agriculture. By contrast with classic single-species population-genetic models, theory indicates that parasite migration between subpopulations might increase parasite local adaptation, as long as migration does not completely homogenize populations. To test this hypothesis we developed a system-specific mathematical model and then coevolved replicate populations of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens and a parasitic bacteriophage with parasite only, with host only or with no migration. Here we show that patterns of local adaptation have considerable temporal and spatial variation and that, in the absence of migration, parasites tend to be locally maladapted. However, in accord with our model, parasite migration results in parasite local adaptation, but host migration alone has no significant effect.     

陶氏颚口线虫流行病学调查及动物感染实验

报道四川省名山和峨边县为陶氏颚口线虫典型流行区，猪的感染率为５．６％和１８．６％；在流行区新发现４种硅和一种蟾蜍为本虫的第二中间宿主。野猪是本病的重要感染源，感染率高达６８．２％。实验证明鼠类和家鸡、鸭为本虫的适宜转续缩主。     

Competition and mutualism among the gut helminths of a mammalian host

Most animal species are infected with multiple parasite species; however, the role of interspecific parasite interactions in influencing parasite dynamics and shaping parasite communities has been unclear. Although laboratory studies have found evidence of cross-immunity, immunosuppression and competition, analyses of hosts in the field have generally concluded that parasite communities are little more than random assemblages. Here we present evidence of consistent interspecific interactions in a natural mammalian system, revealed through the analysis of parasite intensity data collected from a free-ranging rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) population, sampled monthly for a period of 23 yr. The wild rabbit plays host to a diverse gut helminth community that reflects the communities seen in other economically important domestic herbivores. These findings suggest that parasite interactions could have profound implications for the dynamics of parasite communities. The efficacy of parasite control programmes could be jeopardized if such interactions are not taken into account. In contrast, a clear understanding of such interactions may provide the basis for the development of more environmentally acceptable methods of parasite control.     

艾滋孤儿抚养之我见

艾滋孤儿是艾滋病死亡者的遗孤,也是没有感染艾滋病病毒的健康儿童。他们生活在艾滋病的阴影下,过着贫困、耻辱的生活,目前在生活保障、教育权利、心理健康等方面存在诸多问题,也造成社会严重不稳定。解决艾滋孤儿的抚养问题已成为刻不容缓的当务之急。从历史和现实的经验出发,建议采取领养及助养方式分散抚养,并制定相关法律,以有利于孤儿和社会。     

弓形虫传播模型的稳定性分析

为了研究控制弓形虫病传播的临界值,对疾病进行有效预防,并进行相关的理论分析与研究,针对弓形虫的生活史以及传播途径建立数学模型,分析得到了决定疾病是否继续存在以及传播的基本再生数,当基本再生数小于1时,疾病将逐渐消亡,最终灭绝,当基本再生数大于1时,模型存在唯一的地方病平衡点,此时疾病将一直持续下去,形成地方病。通过建立合适的Lyapunov函数等方法,给出了无病平衡点和地方病平衡点全局渐近稳定的充分条件,同时对建立的数学模型进行了系统、完整的定性和稳定性研究。研究结果对后续弓形虫病的研究及其数学模型的建立有一定的借鉴意义。