Giardia. a Model Organism

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Giardia is a relatively simple eukaryotic microbe, causing acute and chronic diarrhea which has been used as a model to understand complex biological processes occurring in eukaryotic cells. Further, due to its parasitic lifestyle, Giardia is an excellent system for the study of the mechanisms of adaptation and cell differentiation from the perspectives of molecular and cell biology. This book presents a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge regarding all aspects of Giardia’s biology, including epidemiology, cell and molecular biology, genetics, pathogenesis, diagnostics, and clinical treatment. It was written by internationally renowned authors, the leading researchers in the field including several chapters with techniques and resources available for the study of this microorganism. Questions that need to be addressed to fully understand the molecular mechanisms of the parasite as well as the cause of its pathology are presented. Furthermore, Giardia’s biology is compared with that of other parasites in relation to their complexity. This volume is an indispensable resource for researchers working with this parasite. It is a “must” for libraries and the bookshelves of everyone interested in the biology of parasites and early-branching eukaryotes.

Content Level » Research
Related subjects » Animal Sciences - Microbiology - Virology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface and Introduction Section I: Taxonomy and Epidemiology of Giardia 1- Taxonomy of Giardia species 2- Epidemiology of Giardia lamblia 3- Waterborne and Environmentally-borne Giardiasis 4- Giardia in Pets, Farm animals and zoonotic potential Section II: Molecular Biology of Giardia 5- Genomics of Giardia lamblia 6- Proteomics and Glycomics of Giardia lamblia 7- Lipidomics of Giardia lamblia 8- General Giardia Metabolism Section III: Cellular Biology of Giardia 9- Ultrastructure of Giardia during growth and differentiation 10- Cell cycle regulation and cell division in Giardia 11- The Giardia Mitosomes 12- Signal transduction pathways in Giardia 13- Transcription and Recombination in Giardia 14- Intracellular protein trafficking 15- The RNAi Pathway in Giardia 16- Antigenic Variation in Giardia 17- Translation and RNA processing in Giardia Section IV: Pathology, treatment and diagnostics of Giardia and the host immune response 18- Interaction of Giardia with host cells 19- The Giardia cytoskeleton 20- Pathology and clinical manifestations of Giardiasis 21- Immunology of Giardiasis 22- Treatment of Giardiasis and Drug Resistance 23- Giardia Metabolism and Drug Development 24- Vaccination against Giardia 25- Diagnostics of Giardia infections Section V: Methods for Giardia Research Methods for Giardia culture and differentiation in vitro Methods for Giardia synchronization Methods for Giardia transfection and gene expression Current tools to study Giardia in the lab

AUTHORS & EDITORS

Dr. Luján received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the School of Chemistry, National University of Córdoba, Argentina, in 1991. Until 1996 he performed postdoctoral work in the United States at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health. He is a full professor of biochemistry and cell biology in the School of Medicine, Catholic University of Córdoba, Argentina. He also is an independent investigator at the National Council for Science and Technology of Argentina. Dr. Svärd received his PhD in Microbiology at Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden in 1995. He performed postdoctoral work in United States at UCSD, San Diego followed by six years at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Currently he is a professor of Eukaryotic Microbiology at Uppsala University.