Transcriptomics of Toxoplasma gondii enteroepithelial stages

Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic pathogen for which felids serve as definitive hosts. In cats, the parasite undergoes several rounds of asexual replication before entering the sexual cycle which gives rise to oocysts that are shed into the environment. These then sporulate and become infective to humans and live stock. To understand the genes involved in the parasite development in the felid host and identify potential intervention targets, we designed a transcriptomic approach to compare the cat intestinal stages with the well characterised tachyzoites that mediate acute infection and tissue cysts that are responsible for chronic infection. Cats were infected with T. gondii tissue cysts from mouse brain and sampled the intestinal stages at day 3, 5 and 7 post infection. As an input sample, we also collected tissue cysts from mouse brain as well as in vitro cultivated tachyzoites. Total RNA was extracted, enriched for mRNA and used for cDNA synthesis. RNA-Seq was then performed to describe the transcriptomic repertoire of each time point/life cycle stage. RNA-Seq of cat enteroepithelial stages and cultivated tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii NIH subcontract grant number: HHSN272200900038C