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One gene to rule them all in a chronic brain infection

A gene has been found that controls the conversion of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii into a form that chronically infects the human brain. The discovery could aid the design of therapies to eliminate this currently untreatable infection.
  1. Eva-Maria Frickel

    1. Eva-Maria Frickel is at the Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK, and at the Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.

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It is estimated that around one-third of the global human population1 is infected with the single-celled organism Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that can be ingested in food or picked up from activities such as gardening2. The parasite needs to differentiate into a chronic-stage form to establish a permanent infection in brain and muscle tissue, but how this parasite conversion occurs has been a mystery. Writing in Cell, Waldman et al.3 report the identification of a gene that encodes a master regulator of this differentiation event.

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Nature 579, 34-35 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00564-w

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