Toxoplasma gondii attachment and invasion: architecture, assembly and recognition of microneme protein complexes

寄生虫在不同的生物体中定居和生长，虽然它对宿主没有好处，但它经常会引起疾病。原生寄生虫刚地弓形虫（弓形虫）是一种单细胞和类动物生物。它是先天性出生缺陷的主要原因，也经常与免疫功能低下的患者（如艾滋病）和一种重要的兽医病原体有关。作为人类和动物最常见的寄生虫感染之一，弓形虫感染了全世界超过5亿人，具有巨大的社会经济影响。目前的治疗方法有毒副作用且疗效低，而且疫苗尚未开发，因此弓形虫是一个被高度低估的公共卫生问题。我们建议从原子角度研究弓形虫定植和入侵宿主的机制，为合理设计药物和疫苗提供指导。

A parasite colonises and grows in a different organism and while it is not a benefit to the host, it can often cause disease. The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is both a single-celled and animal-like organism. It is a major cause of congenital birth defects, as well as being often associated with immuno-compromised patients (e.g. AIDS) and an important veterinary pathogen. As one of the most common parasitic infections of man and animals, infecting more than 500 million people worldwide, T. gondii has a large socio-economic impact. Current treatments have toxic side effects with low efficacy and a vaccine has yet to be developed, therefore T. gondii represents a highly underestimated public health problem. We propose to study the mechanisms by which T. gondii are able colonise and invade hosts from the atomic standpoint, which will provide guidance for the rational design of drugs and vaccines.