From genome to proteome: transcriptional and proteomic analysis of cryptosporidium parasites

Abstract

The ability to generate large-scale transcriptome and proteome datasets has changed the landscape in parasite biology. These data enable an integrated, whole organism approach to understanding how parasites function and interact with their hosts. The difficulty in propagating Cryptosporidium means that work has focused on the oocyst and sporozoite stages of the parasite. Transcriptional studies using expressed sequence tags (ESTs), microarrays and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) have given a valuable insight into how both the parasite and host cells respond to infection. In addition, global proteomics analyses have characterised the expressed proteomes of oocysts and sporozoites of C. parvum. Currently, Cryptosporidium research is lagging behind some other pathogens in terms of global ‘omics’ analyses. However, there have been significant technological and bioinformatics advances in transcriptome and proteome analyses in recent years, which are set to continue. Exploiting these technologies and capitalising on the resulting “systems-biology” data mean that exciting times are ahead in the field of Cryptosporidium biology.