Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Toxoplasma is a common human pathogen causing severe congenital birth defects and fatal toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromized patients. Critical to pathogenesis and transmission of apicomplexan parasites like Toxoplasma and Plasmodium (malaria) is the ability to differentiate into various life cycle stages. Genome sequencing projects reveal a paucity of known transcription factors, suggesting these early eukaryotes rely heavily on epigenetics. It is now well accepted that chromatin is dynamic and influences gene expression regulation. We report recently that Toxoplasma employs a sophisticated histone code to modulate gene expression relevant to differentiation. We also show that the parasite life cycle can be manipulated by interfering with histone modifying machinery. Our lab is using Toxoplasma as a new informative model to study the evolution of epigenetics in eukaryotic cells. The novelty of our project lies in its attempt to integrate a different way of thinking infectiousness of the parasite by looking the impact of epigenetic events on its virulence and infectivity.

National & international cooperations
- Dr. William J. Sullivan (Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA)
- Dr. Markus Meissner (Hygieneinstitut, Heidelberg, Germany)
- Dr. Jérôme Garin ( INSERM ERIT, M 0201, CEA)
- Dr. Isabelle Tardieux (Institut Cochin Paris)
- Dr. Robert Ménard (Institut Pasteur de Paris)
- Dr. Eric Maréchal (UMR 5168 CNRS-CEA-INRA-Univ. J. Fourier Grenoble I)
- Dr. Hassan Belrhali (ESRF/EMBL station, Grenoble)

.....Publications

Updated the 2005-10-14