Project name: Eimeria tenella

Description: Eimeria. Eimeria sp are obligate, intracellular protozoan parasites, which belong to the phylum Apicomplexa and are closely related to Plasmodium (the causative agents of malaria) and the zoonotic parasites Toxoplasma and Cryptosporidium. Eimeria tenella. E. tenella develops within epithelial cells that line the intestinal tract of domestic fowl and probably infects most of the 30 billion chickens reared annually for meat worldwide. The clinical disease is called caecal coccidiosis. In common with other apicomplexan parasites, E. tenella is characterized by an endogenous developmental life cycle that comprises sequential phases of asexual reproduction followed by a terminal phase of sexual reproduction in which gametes fuse to produce a transient diploid nucleus (a zygote) that will give rise to haploid sporozoites. Unlike other apicomplexans, E. tenella has a direct life cycle occurring in only a single host. Therefore, this organism represents a model system to study the genetic loci implicated in the regulation of the parasite life cycle.

Data type: RefSeq Genome sequencing

Sample scope: Monoisolate

Last updated: 2003-11-12