Transcriptional control of the Cryptosporidium life cycle

Katelyn A. Walzer, Jayesh Tandel, Jessica H. Byerly, Abigail M. Daniels, Jodi A. Gullicksrud, Eoin C. Whelan, Stephen D. Carro, Elise Krespan, Daniel P. Beiting and Boris Striepen ()
Additional contact information
Katelyn A. Walzer: University of Pennsylvania
Jayesh Tandel: University of Pennsylvania
Jessica H. Byerly: University of Pennsylvania
Abigail M. Daniels: University of Pennsylvania
Jodi A. Gullicksrud: University of Pennsylvania
Eoin C. Whelan: University of Pennsylvania
Stephen D. Carro: University of Pennsylvania
Elise Krespan: University of Pennsylvania
Daniel P. Beiting: University of Pennsylvania
Boris Striepen: University of Pennsylvania

Nature, 2024, vol. 630, issue 8015, 174-180

Abstract: Abstract The parasite Cryptosporidium is a leading agent of diarrhoeal disease in young children, and a cause and consequence of chronic malnutrition1,2. There are no vaccines and only limited treatment options3. The parasite infects enterocytes, in which it engages in asexual and sexual replication4, both of which are essential to continued infection and transmission. However, their molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear5. Here we use single-cell RNA sequencing to reveal the gene expression programme of the entire Cryptosporidium parvum life cycle in culture and in infected animals. Diverging from the prevailing model6, we find support for only three intracellular stages: asexual type-I meronts, male gamonts and female gametes. We reveal a highly organized program for the assembly of components at each stage. Dissecting the underlying regulatory network, we identify the transcription factor Myb-M as the earliest determinant of male fate, in an organism that lacks genetic sex determination. Conditional expression of this factor overrides the developmental program and induces widespread maleness, while conditional deletion ablates male development. Both have a profound impact on the infection. A large set of stage-specific genes now provides the opportunity to understand, engineer and disrupt parasite sex and life cycle progression to advance the development of vaccines and treatments.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07466-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:630:y:2024:i:8015:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07466-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07466-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().