Friday 4 March 2011

MALARIA: the centocone

A disease called toxoplasmosis is considered to be a leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet scientists have struggled to understand how Apicomplexan parasites that cause toxoplasmosis and numerous other diseases divide and grow.

Now, in research just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of scientists led by Boris Striepen at the University of Georgia has shown for the first time that a structure called the centrocone serves as a “master organizer” of chromosome location. The study found that the chromosomes, which package DNA in the nucleus of cells, are constantly tethered by the centrocone, an arrangement that allows Apicomplexans a highly flexible cell division process suited to the demands of parasitism.

The discovery could lead to new understandings about toxoplasmosis and other Apicomplexa-mediated diseases such as malaria and may ultimately serve as an important point of intervention in therapies to control the diseases

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-previously-unknown-role-cell-division.html

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