K S Tan

..luteostoma was more closely related to T. keluo than to T. clavigera. However, both analyses indicated the close relationship amongst T. clavigera, T. luteostoma and the new species in relation to T. rufotincta...

..Another area that requires attention is the development of methods for the transfection of foreign/altered genes into B. hominis in order to facilitate genetic experiments...

..Other unusual features included margination of chromatin material and distinct blebbing of nuclei. These ultrastructural features suggest that B. hominis colony forms perhaps undergo a form of programmed cell death...

..This review focuses on such recent advances and also provides updates on laboratory and clinical aspects of Blastocystis spp...

..Recent observations of PCD pathways in Blastocystis suggest that this protozoan, as is the case with its multicellular counterparts, possesses complex cell-death mechanisms...

..This is the first study to highlight a strain-to-strain variation in the ability of Blastocystis to evade the host antiparasitic NO response...

..Application of modern molecular tools has advanced knowledge of the organism's genetic diversity, taxonomy and zoonotic potential...

..These findings suggest that caspase-3-like proteases play an important role in B. hominis undergoing PCD, similar to the phenomenon in higher eukaryotic organisms...

..Acridine orange staining performed on both exposed and unexposed cells showed similar internal structures when viewed under fluorescence microscopy...

..Our study also ascribes a novel function for the B. hominis central vacuole in apoptosis; it acts as a repository where apoptotic bodies are stored before being released into the extracellular space...

..The role of MLO in this anaerobic protozoan can be widely investigated using this protocol...

..hominis is not wholly dependent on caspase-3-like protease activity and is associated with mitochondrial dysregulation. This is the first report showing evidence for complex apoptotic pathways in a unicellular parasite...

..hominis central vacuole in PCD; it acts as a repository where apoptotic bodies are stored before being released into the extracellular space. The implications and possible roles of PCD in B. hominis are discussed...

..This study sheds new light on the conserved nature of PCD pathways in parasitic protozoa and is also the first report describing caspase- and mitochondria-independent cell death pathways in a protozoan parasite...

..While the identities of the proteases responsible for STS-induced apoptosis warrant further investigation, these findings demonstrate that programmed cell death in Blastocystis is complex and regulated by multiple mediators...

..Our findings will contribute to an understanding of the pathobiology of a poorly studied parasite whose public health importance is increasingly recognized...

..TcdE may function as a lytic protein to facilitate the release of TcdA and TcdB to the extracellular environment, as these toxins lack signal peptide...

..The predominance of subtype 3 in an urbanized city state such as Singapore is in agreement with the idea that subtype 3 is a genotype of human origin...

..hominis B isolate and aspartic proteinase activity in B. ratii WR1 isolate. These findings suggest that Blastocystis proteases may play a role in parasite survival in vivo...

..forsythus, for a more accurate determination of the prevalence of periodontal health and disease in epidemiological studies and clinical screening...

..Our study highlights the need to reevaluate established treatment regimens for Blastocystis infections and offers clear new treatment options for Mz treatment failures...

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..fmk. Taken together, our results suggest that the core machinery for autophagy is conserved in Blastocystis, and that it plays an important role in the starvation response and cell death of the parasite...

..Cysteine protease activity and parasite cell size varied over time within cultures of the same isolate. An association between parasite cell size and protease activity was observed...

..Proteases were found to be pH-dependent and highest proteolytic activity was observed at neutral pH. Inhibition studies showed that B. hominis isolate B, like many other protozoan parasites, contains mainly cysteine proteases...

..Based upon the results of this study, the Blastocystis organelle falls into the category of a MLO...

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..Based primarily on published small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene analyses, we propose that all mammalian and avian isolates should be designated Blastocystis sp. and assigned to one of nine subtypes...