Abrahamsen M S
Veterinary PathoBiology, University of Minnesota, 1988 Fitch Avenue, St. Pau,l MN 55108, USA.
Comp Funct Genomics. 2001;2(1):19-21. doi: 10.1002/cfg.67.
A lack of basic understanding of parasite biology has been a limiting factor in designing effective means of treating and preventing disease caused by Cryptosporidium parvum. Since the genomic DNA sequence encodes all of the heritable information responsible for development, disease pathogenesis, virulence, species permissiveness and immune resistance, a comprehensive knowledge of the C. parvum genome will provide the necessary information required for cost-effective and targeted research into disease prevention and treatment. With the recent advances in high-throughput automated DNA sequencing capabilities, large-scale genomic sequencing has become a cost-effective and time-efficient approach to understanding the biology of an organism. In addition, the continued development and implementation of new software tools that can scan raw sequences for signs of genes and then identify clues as to potential functions, has provided the final realization of the potential rewards of genome sequencing. To further our understanding of C. parvum biology, we have initiated a random shotgun sequencing approach to obtain the complete sequence of the IOWA isolate of C. parvum. Our progress to date has demonstrated that sequencing of the C. parvum genome will be an efficient and costeffective method for gene discovery of this important eukaryotic pathogen. This will allow for the identification of key metabolic and immunological features of the organism that will provide the basis for future development of safe and effective strategies for prevention and treatment of disease in AIDS patients, as well as immunocompetent hosts. Moreover, by obtaining the complete sequence of the C. parvum genome, effective methods for subspecific differentiation (strain typing) and epidemiologic surveillance (strain tracking) of this pathogen can be developed.
对寄生虫生物学缺乏基本了解一直是设计有效治疗和预防由微小隐孢子虫引起疾病方法的限制因素。由于基因组DNA序列编码了负责发育、疾病发病机制、毒力、物种易感性和免疫抗性的所有可遗传信息，全面了解微小隐孢子虫基因组将为疾病预防和治疗的经济有效且有针对性的研究提供所需的必要信息。随着高通量自动化DNA测序能力的最新进展，大规模基因组测序已成为了解生物体生物学的一种经济有效且高效的方法。此外，能够扫描原始序列以寻找基因迹象并进而识别潜在功能线索的新软件工具的不断开发和应用，最终实现了基因组测序的潜在益处。为了进一步了解微小隐孢子虫生物学，我们已启动随机鸟枪法测序方法以获得微小隐孢子虫爱荷华分离株的完整序列。我们目前的进展表明，微小隐孢子虫基因组测序将是发现这种重要真核病原体基因的一种高效且经济有效的方法。这将有助于识别该生物体的关键代谢和免疫特征，为未来开发安全有效的策略以预防和治疗艾滋病患者以及免疫功能正常宿主的疾病提供基础。此外，通过获得微小隐孢子虫基因组的完整序列，可以开发出对该病原体进行亚种分化（菌株分型）和流行病学监测（菌株追踪）的有效方法。
