Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T09:25:29.085Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adaptation of Cryptosporidium oocysts to different excystation conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2007

G. WIDMER ,
P. KLEIN  and
R. BONILLA
G. WIDMER*
Affiliation:
Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA
P. KLEIN
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Science, Department of Nutrition, Pratelstvi 815, Prague 10 – Uhrineves, Czech Republic
R. BONILLA
Affiliation:
Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA. Tel: 001 508 839 7944. Fax: 001 508 839 7911. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Within the genus Cryptosporidium 2 lineages have evolved, one adapted to the acid environment of the stomach and abomasum, the other comprising parasites that multiply in the small intestine. We tested whether the release of sporozoites from oocysts, a process known as excystation, is triggered by conditions which mimic the site of infection. Specifically, we exposed oocysts from gastric and intestinal Cryptosporidium species to acid conditions or to a neutral solution of taurocholic acid, at 37°C. We found that oocysts from the gastric species C. muris and C. andersoni excysted in both conditions, whereas the intestinal species C. parvum and C. hominis did not respond to acid. When the effect of temperature alone was tested on C. muris and C. parvum, only oocysts from the former species excysted in significant numbers. Oocysts from intestinal species did not respond to temperature alone, nor to acidity. These observations are consistent with the need of gastric species to rapidly excyst and release the sporozoites upon ingestion, and indicate that Cryptosporidium oocysts have evolved to maximize delivery of sporozoites to the region of the gastro-intestinal tract where the parasite multiplies.

Keywords

Cryptosporidium spp.gastro-intestinal tractoocyst excystationsporozoites
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 134 , Issue 11 , October 2007 , pp. 1583 - 1588
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abrahamsen, M. S., Templeton, T. J., Enomoto, S., Abrahante, J. E., Zhu, G., Lancto, C. A., Deng, M., Liu, C., Widmer, G., Tzipori, S., Buck, G. A., Xu, P., Bankier, A. T., Dear, P. H., Konfortov, B. A., Spriggs, H. F., Iyer, L., Anantharaman, V., Aravind, L. and Kapur, V. (2004). Complete genome sequence of the apicomplexan, Cryptosporidium parvum. Science 304, 441–445.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Akiyoshi, D. E., Feng, X., Buckholt, M. A., Widmer, G. and Tzipori, S. (2002). Genetic analysis of a Cryptosporidium parvum human genotype 1 isolate passaged through different host species. Infection and Immunity 70, 5670–5675.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arrowood, M. J. and Sterling, C. R. (1987). Isolation of Cryptosporidium oocysts and sporozoites using discontinuous sucrose and isopycnic Percoll gradients. Journal of Parasitology 73, 314–319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, A. T., Robertson, L. J. and Smith, H. V. (1992). Viability of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts: correlation of in vitro excystation with inclusion or exclusion of fluorogenic vital dyes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 58, 3488–3493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fayer, R. and Leek, R. G. (1984). The effects of reducing conditions, medium, pH, temperature, and time on in vitro excystation of Cryptosporidium. Journal of Protozoology 31, 567–569.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forney, J. R., Yang, S. and Healey, M. C. (1996). Protease activity associated with excystation of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts. Journal of Parasitology 82, 889–892.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, M., Trout, J. M., Higgins, J., Dorsch, M., Veal, D. and Fayer, R. (2003). Comparison of tests for viable and infectious Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts. Parasitology Research 89, 1–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Kato, S., Jenkins, M. B., Ghiorse, W. C. and Bowman, D. D. (2001). Chemical and physical factors affecting the excystation of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts. Journal of Parasitology 87, 575–581.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuczynska, E. and Shelton, D. R. (1999). Method for detection and enumeration of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in feces, manures, and soils. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65, 2820–2826.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindsay, D. S., Upton, S. J., Owens, D. S., Morgan, U. M., Mead, J. R. and Blagburn, B. L. (2000). Cryptosporidium andersoni n. sp. (Apicomplexa: Cryptosporiidae) from cattle, Bos taurus. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 47, 91–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okhuysen, P. C., Chappell, C. L., Crabb, J. H., Sterling, C. R. and Dupont, H. L. (1999). Virulence of three distinct Cryptosporidium parvum isolates for healthy adults. Journal of Infectious Diseases 180, 1275–1281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Okhuysen, P. C., Chappell, C. L., Kettner, C. and Sterling, C. R. (1996). Cryptosporidium parvum metalloaminopeptidase inhibitors prevent in vitro excystation. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 40, 2781–2784.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robertson, L. J., Campbell, A. T. and Smith, H. V. (1993). In vitro excystation of Cryptosporidium parvum. Parasitology 106, 13–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, H. V., Nichols, R. A. and Grimason, A. M. (2005). Cryptosporidium excystation and invasion: getting to the guts of the matter. Trends in Parasitology 21, 133–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanriverdi, S., Arslan, M. O., Akiyoshi, D. E., Tzipori, S. and Widmer, G. (2003). Identification of genotypically mixed Cryptosporidium parvum populations in humans and calves. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 130, 13–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tanriverdi, S. and Widmer, G. (2006). Differential evolution of repetitive sequences in Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 6, 113–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tanriverdi, S., Blain, J. C., Deng, B., Ferdig, M. T. and Widmer, G. (2007). Genetic crosses in the apicomplexan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum define recombination parameters. Molecular Microbiology 63, 1432–1439.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, M. A., Marshall, R. N., Green, J. A. and Catchpole, J. (1999). The pathogenesis of experimental infections of Cryptosporidium muris (strain RN 66) in outbred nude mice. Veterinary Parasitology 86, 41–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyzzer, E. E. (1907). A sporozoon found in the peptic glands of the common mouse. Proceeding of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine 5, 12–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Upton, S. J. and Current, W. L. (1985). The species of Cryptosporidium (Apicomplexa: Cryptosporidiidae) infecting mammals. Journal of Parasitology 71, 625–629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Widmer, G., Orbacz, E. A. and Tzipori, S. (1999). Beta-tubulin mRNA as a marker of Cryptosporidium parvum oocyst viability. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65, 1584–1588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Widmer, G., Tzipori, S., Fichtenbaum, C. J. and Griffiths, J. K. (1998). Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of Cryptosporidium parvum isolates from people with AIDS. Journal of Infectious Diseases 178, 834–840.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woodmansee, D. B. (1987). Studies of in vitro excystation of Cryptosporidium parvum from calves. Journal of Protozoology 34, 398–402.Google ScholarPubMed
Xu, P., Widmer, G., Wang, Y., Ozaki, L. S., Alves, J. M., Serrano, M. G., Puiu, D., Manque, P., Akiyoshi, D., Mackey, A. J., Pearson, W. R., Dear, P. H., Bankier, A. T., Peterson, D. L., Abrahamsen, M. S., Kapur, V., Tzipori, S. and Buck, G. A. (2004). The genome of Cryptosporidium hominis. Nature 431, 1107–1112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, S., Benson, S. K., Du, C. and Healey, M. C. (2000). Infection of immunosuppressed C57BL/6N adult mice with a single oocyst of Cryptosporidium parvum. Journal of Parasitology 86, 884–887.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, S., Healey, M. C. and Du, C. (1996). Infectivity of preserved Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts for immunosuppressed adult mice. FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology 13, 141–145.Google ScholarPubMed