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Assays for Monitoring Toxoplasma gondii Infectivity in the Laboratory Mouse

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Toxoplasma gondii

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2071))

Abstract

Toxoplasma is a widespread parasite of animals including many rodents that are a natural part of the transmission cycle between cats, which serve as the definitive host. Although wild rodents, including house mice, are relatively resistant, laboratory mice are highly susceptible to infection. As such, laboratory mice have been used to compare pathogenesis of natural variants and to evaluate the contributions of both host and parasite genes to infection. Protocols are provided here for evaluating acute and chronic infection with different parasite strains in laboratory mice. These protocols should provide uniform standards for evaluating natural variants and attenuated mutants and for comparing outcomes across different studies and between different laboratories.

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Acknowledgments

We thank many former members of the laboratory for developing and refining these protocols over the years, including Mike Behnke, Kevin Brown, Ildiko Dunay, Blima Fux, Dan Howe, Asis Khan, Dana Mordue, and Chunlei Su. We are also grateful to Christopher Hunter and Yasu Suzuki for helpful advice on animal infection models, and to David Bzik, Vern Carruthers, J.P. Dubey, and Laura Knoll for generously providing strains. Supported in part by NIH grants AI118426 and AI034036 to L.D.S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Qiuling Wang & L. David Sibley

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  1. Qiuling Wang
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  2. L. David Sibley
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Correspondence to L. David Sibley .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Infectious Disease and Immune Defense, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Christopher J. Tonkin

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Wang, Q., Sibley, L.D. (2020). Assays for Monitoring Toxoplasma gondii Infectivity in the Laboratory Mouse. In: Tonkin, C. (eds) Toxoplasma gondii. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2071. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9857-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9857-9_5

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9856-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9857-9

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