Abstract
An analysis of Cryptosporidium parvum genes of likely endosymbiont or prokaryotic origin supports the hypothesis that C. arvum evolved from a plastid-containing lineage.
Highlights
The apicomplexan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum is an emerging pathogen capable of causing illness in humans and other animals and death in immunocompromised individuals
BLAST analyses From BLAST analyses, the genome of Cryptosporidium, like that of Plasmodium falciparum [26], is more similar overall to those of the plants Arabidopsis and Oryza than to any other non-apicomplexan organism currently represented in GenBank
The methodology adopted in this study provides a broad picture of the extent and the importance of gene transfer in apicomplexan evolution
Summary
The apicomplexan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum is an emerging pathogen capable of causing illness in humans and other animals and death in immunocompromised individuals. No effective treatment is available and the genome sequence has recently been completed This parasite differs from other apicomplexans in its lack of a plastid organelle, the apicoplast. Recent studies on the nuclear-encoded, plastid-targeted glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene suggest a common origin of the secondary plastids in apicomplexans, some dinoflagellates, heterokonts, haptophytes and cryptomonads [8,18]. If true, this would indicate that the lineage that gave rise to Cryptosporidium contained a plastid, even though many of its descendants (for example, the ciliates) appear to lack a plastid. Indirect evidence has been noted for the past existence of an apicoplast in C. parvum [19,20], no rigorous phylogenomic survey for nuclear-encoded genes of plastid or algal origin has been reported
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