Evolution of intracellular eukaryotic microsporidian parasites that naturally infect C. elegans

Dr. Aaron Reinke
University of California, San Diego
Wednesday, February 8, 2017 - 11:00am
CCBR Red Room
Faculty Recruitment Seminar
Abstract: 
Microsporidia are fungal-related eukaryotic intracellular parasites that infect a diverse range of animal species, including humans. To understand how these pathogens interact with their hosts, I took advantage of several microsporidia species that naturally infect C. elegans. To identify the proteins from the pathogen that directly interact with the host, I developed technology that allows for the systematic identification of protein localization in a tissue and subcellular specific manner. This resulted in the first large-scale experimental localization of pathogen proteins inside cells of a living animal host and revealed that microsporidia use a large cadre of unique, rapidly evolving, and paralogous proteins to interact with their hosts
Host: 
Dr. Alan Davidson
Department of Molecular Genetics