A5112104567- Parasitic Infections and Diagnostics
- Parasitic infections in humans and animals
- Amoebic Infections and Treatments
- Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems
- Hemoglobin structure and function
- Legionella and Acanthamoeba research
- CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
- Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques
- Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis
- Toxoplasma gondii Research Studies
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Nematode management and characterization studies
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Aquaculture disease management and microbiota
- Genetic and Kidney Cyst Diseases
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
2025
Broad Institute
2025
McGovern Institute for Brain Research
2025
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2025
University of California, Davis
2008-2017
University of California, Riverside
2016
Giardia trophozoites attach to the intestinal microvilli (or inert surfaces) using an undefined “suction-based” mechanism, and remain attached during cell division avoid peristalsis. Flagellar motility is a key factor in Giardia's pathogenesis colonization of host small intestine. Specifically, beating ventral flagella, one four pairs motile has been proposed generate hydrodynamic force that results suction-based attachment via adjacent disc. We aimed test this prevailing “hydrodynamic...
Giardia intestinalis is a ubiquitous parasitic protist that the causative agent of giardiasis, one most common protozoan diarrheal diseases in world. trophozoites attach to intestinal epithelium using specialized and elaborate microtubule structure, ventral disc. Surrounding disc less characterized putatively contractile lateral crest, which forms continuous perimeter seal with substrate. A better understanding crest conformational dynamics, biogenesis critical for mechanism giardial...
Giardia lamblia is a highly prevalent yet understudied protistan parasite causing significant diarrheal disease worldwide. Hosts ingest cysts from contaminated sources. In the gastrointestinal tract, excyst to become motile trophozoites, colonizing and attaching gut epithelium. Trophozoites later differentiate into infectious that are excreted contaminate environment. Due limited accessibility of gut, temporospatial dynamics giardiasis in host largely inferred laboratory culture thus may not...
A critical component of flagellar assembly, the kinesin-2 heterotrimeric complex powers anterograde movement proteinaceous rafts along outer doublet axonemes in intraflagellar transport (IFT). We present first high-resolution structures a motor domain and an ATP hydrolysis-deficient mutant from parasitic protist Giardia intestinalis. The crystal G. intestinalis wild-type (GiKIN2a) domain, with its docked neck linker GiKIN2aT104N were solved ADP Mg(2+) at 1.6 1.8 resolutions, respectively....
Giardia is a highly prevalent, understudied protistan parasite causing significant diarrheal disease worldwide. Its life cycle consists of two stages: infectious cysts ingested from contaminated food or water sources, and motile trophozoites that colonize attach to the gut epithelium, later encysting form new are excreted into environment. Current understanding physiology in host largely inferred transcriptomic studies using grown axenically co-culture with mammalian cell lines. The dearth...
Abstract Naturally existing enzymes have been adapted for a variety of molecular technologies, with enhancements or modifications to the introduced improve desired function; however, it is difficult engineer variants enhanced activity while maintaining specificity. Here we compact Obligate Mobile Element Guided Activity (OMEGA) RNA-guided endonuclease IscB and its guiding RNA (ωRNA) by combining ortholog screening, structure-guided protein domain design engineering, deep learning-based...
Root nodule-forming rhizobia exhibit a bipartite lifestyle, replicating in soil and also within plant cells where they fix nitrogen for legume hosts. Host control models posit that hosts act as predominant selective force on rhizobia, but few studies have examined rhizobial fitness natural populations. Here, we genotyped phenotyped Bradyrhizobium isolates across more than 800 km of the native Acmispon strigosus host range. We sequenced chromosomal genes expressed under free-living conditions...
Diplomonads are common free-living inhabitants of anoxic aquatic environments and also found as intestinal commensals or parasites a wide variety animals. Spironucleus vortens is putatively commensal diplomonad angelfish that grows to high cell densities in axenic culture. Genomic sequencing S. progress, yet little information available regarding molecular cellular aspects biology beyond descriptive ultrastructural studies. To facilitate the development an additional experimental model, we...