Institute for Genome Sciences
International Livestock Research Institute
Current News
February 2015
Malaria parasites unlikely to jump from animals to humans
A new study indicates that it is unlikely that Plasmodium species that infect other animals would cross over easily to humans.. read more
December 2014
Scientists Find Multiple Wolbachia Genomes Integrated in a Drosophila Chromosome
Investigators found multiple complete bacterial genomes integrated into an animal genome
Publications
Cis regulatory motifs and antisense transcriptional control in the apicomplexan Theileria parva.
Tretina K, R Pelle and JC Silva.
BMC Genomics. 2016 17(1):128. [read more].
Quantification of the ratio of host-to-parasite DNA in samples from Theileria parva-infected host lymphocyte cell lines.
Gotia HT, JB Munro, DP Knowles, CA Daubenberger, RP Bishop, JC Silva.
PLoS One. 2016 11(3):e0150401. [read more].
The genomes of three stocks comprising the most widely utilized live sporozoite Theileria parva vaccine exhibit very different degrees and patterns of sequence divergence.
Norling M, Bishop RP, Pelle R, Qi W, Henson S, Drábek EF, Tretina K, Odongo D, Mwaura S, Njoroge T, Bongcam-Rudloff E, Daubenberger CA, Silva JC.
BMC Genomics. 2015 Sep 24 [read more].
Parasites of Livestock
East Coast fever (ECF), which occurs in eastern, southern and central Africa, is an acute fatal disease of cattle caused by the tick-transmitted intracellular apicomplexan pathogen Theilera parva. Millions of cattle are at risk of ECF and approximately 1 million die each year. ECF alone is responsible for the death of half of all young calves in the region, and represents a major impediment to the development of the cattle industry, particularly among poor livestock owners. ECF-induced annual losses are estimated at more than US$300 million, a significant figure for resource-poor African agriculturalists. The African Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is an asymptomatic wildlife carrier of T. parva in the region, and thought to be its primary host. Areas where buffalo and cattle co-graze are thought to facilitate transmission of the parasite between the two mammalian host by the tick vector.
The collaboration between IGS and ILRI focuses on the generation of genomic and transcriptomic data, and web-based resources for the study of T. parva. Other areas of collaboration include the application of reverse vaccinology approaches to the identification of novel antigens, and the use of in silico and laboratory experiments to better characterize the interactions between host and parasite.
Resources
Primary contact: Joana Carneiro da Silva
- T. parva genome re-annotation, 2015: access the new annotation in jbrowse.
- T. parva genome resources can be found at NCBI.
- Additional T. parva genomic resources, including homology with other Apicomplexa species, can be mined in EuPathDB, and specifically PiroplasmaDB.
Other Silva Group Parasites Projects
"The re-annoation of the genome of Theileria parva Muguga is now complete."
Genome Reannotation
Click the thumbnail above to view the Theileria parva genome reannotation on jbrowse
