Transcription of meiotic-like-pathway genes in Giardia intestinalis

Autor: Sandra P Melo, Vanessa Gómez, Isabel C Castellanos, Magda E Alvarado, Paula C Hernández, Amanda Gallego, Moisés Wasserman
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2008
Předmět:
Zdroj: Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Vol 103, Iss 4, Pp 347-350 (2008)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0074-0276
1678-8060
DOI: 10.1590/S0074-02762008000400006
Popis: The reproductive mechanism of Giardia intestinalis, considered one of the earliest divergent eukaryotes, has not been fully defined yet. Some evidence supports the hypothesis that Giardia is an exclusively asexual organism with a clonal population structure. However, the high genetic variability, the variation in ploidy during its life cycle, the low heterozygosity and the existence of genes involved in the meiotic-like recombination pathway in the parasite's genome cast doubt on exclusively asexual nature of Giardia. In this work, semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis was used to assess the transcription pattern of three meiosis-like-specific genes involved in homologues recombination: dmc1, hop1 and spo11. The mRNAs were amplified during the parasite's differentiation processes, encystation and excystation, and expression was found at each stage of its life cycle. A semiquantitative assessment also suggests that expression of some of the genes is regulated during encystation process.
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