Interactions between the protozoan parasite toxoplasma gondii and the antigen presentation pathways in the host cell

弓形虫病是由弓形虫引起的感染，弓形虫是一种单细胞寄生虫，可以在任何温血脊椎动物宿主的任何细胞内生长，是一种主要的全球性人畜共患病原体。这种寄生虫不仅是一种重要的病原体，在加拿大具有巨大的社会文化和经济影响（肉类工业中的食品污染，水污染，子宫内感染的儿童的主要来源），而且是一种具有巨大潜力的生物系统和细胞内寄生的几个方面的模型。我们的目标是了解弓形虫如何刺激和干扰脊椎动物宿主的免疫反应。使用细胞生物学，遗传学和免疫学的多学科方法，我们专注于分离寄生虫和宿主因素，这些因素相互作用并最终影响感染的结果。我们将使用遗传方法来产生受损的寄生虫，无法在宿主中建立正常的感染，然后定位导致缺陷的突变。这将使我们能够确定感染所需的重要寄生虫因素。然后将对这些分子进行表征：我们将研究它们的特性，它们在寄生虫或宿主中的定位，并且我们将确定活宿主细胞中生理条件下的潜在相互作用分子。通过确定宿主和寄生虫蛋白质相互作用的特征，我们可以（i）获得寄生虫如何操纵宿主以及宿主如何反应的知识;（ii）增加我们不仅在弓形虫和细胞内生物体研究方面，而且在许多生物学、生物化学和免疫学研究方面的创新机会;（iii）培养高素质的学生;（iv）开发新技术和可获得专利的产品;（iv）开发新的生物技术和可获得专利的产品。（v）最终为加拿大和其他国家带来社会文化和经济利益。

Toxoplasmosis is an infection due to Toxoplasma gondii, which is a unicellular parasite that can grow within any cell of any warm-blooded vertebrate host and is a major global zoonotic pathogen. This parasite is not only an important pathogen with enormous sociocultural and economical impact in Canada (major source of food contamination in meat industry, water contamination, children infected in utero), but also a biological system with great potential and a model for several aspects of intracellular parasitism. Our goal is to understand how Toxoplasma stimulates and interferes with the immune response in its vertebrate hosts. Using a multidisciplinary approach of cell biology, genetics and immunology, we focus on the isolation of parasite and host factors that interact and ultimately influence the outcome of the infection. We will use genetic approaches to generate parasites that are impaired and unable to establish a normal infection in their host, and then locate the mutation responsible for the defect. This will allow us to identify important parasite factors that are required for infection. These molecules will then be characterized: we will study their properties, their localization in the parasite or in the host, and we will determine potential interacting molecules in physiological conditions in live host cells. By characterizing the interaction of host and parasite proteins, we can (i) gain knowledge on how the parasite manipulates the host, and how the host reacts; (ii) increase our chances for innovation not only for research on Toxoplasma and intracellular organisms, but also for numerous biology, biochemistry and immunology studies; (iii) train high quality students; (iv) develop new technologies and patentable products; (v) ultimately bring sociocultural and economical benefits to Canada and other countries.