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  • Review Article
  • Published:

Behind the smile: cell biology and disease mechanisms of Giardia species

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 8, pages 413–422 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Giardia intestinalis is recognized as a major worldwide contributor to diarrhoeal disease in humans and other mammals, but the disease mechanisms have been poorly understood until recently.

  • Giardia spp. are some of the most divergent eukaryotes examined to date and provide unique opportunities for gaining basic insights into key pathways that characterize eukaryotic cells and also for identifying new molecular mechanisms.

  • Cell differentiation in Giardia spp. involves two major developmental transitions: from the ingested, dormant cyst via the excyzoite to trophozoites, in a process known as excystation, and from the motile, replicating trophozoite back to the infective cyst, in a process known as encystation.

  • Mitosomes in Giardia spp. are elongated, double-membraned organelles that are related to mitochondria, and their only known function is in the assembly of Fe–S clusters.

  • Giardia spp., like all diplomonads, have two nuclei. These nuclei have been shown to be equivalent in size and in the amount of DNA that they contain, and both are transcriptionally active.

  • Analyses of Giardia spp. genomes indicate that these organisms encode rudimentary forms of many cellular processes, with fewer subunits present in simplified cellular machineries, and have a limited metabolic repertoire with many bacterial-like enzymes that were introduced by horizontal gene transfer.

  • The adhesive disc and the four flagella of the pathogen, together with differentiation and antigenic variation of the variant-specific surface proteins (VSPs), are the major virulence factors identified to date for Giardia spp. Epigenetic mechanisms, microRNAs and RNA interference have been shown to be important in the regulation of vsp gene expression.

  • Several mechanisms (including epithelial-barrier dysfunction, apoptosis, diffuse shortening of microvilli, hypersecretion of Cl− and inhibition of brush-border enzymes) have been proposed to be important for the induction of symptoms during giardial infection, and the cause of giardiasis is probably multifactorial.

Abstract

The eukaryotic intestinal parasite Giardia intestinalis was first described in 1681, when Antonie van Leeuwenhoek undertook a microscopic examination of his own diarrhoeal stool. Nowadays, although G. intestinalis is recognized as a major worldwide contributor to diarrhoeal disease in humans and other mammals, the disease mechanisms are still poorly understood. Owing to its reduced complexity and proposed early evolutionary divergence, G. intestinalis is used as a model eukaryotic system for studying many basic cellular processes. In this Review we discuss recent discoveries in the molecular cell biology and pathogenesis of G. intestinalis.

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Figure 1: Life cycle of Giardia intestinalis.
Figure 2: Key features of the giardial trophozoite and cyst.
Figure 3: Antigenic variation in Giardia spp.

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Acknowledgements

S.G.S. is supported by the Swedish Research Council VR–M, the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

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  1. Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Center, BOX 596, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-751 24, Sweden

    Johan Ankarklev, Jon Jerlström-Hultqvist, Emma Ringqvist, Karin Troell & Staffan G. Svärd

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DATABASES

Entrez Genome Project

Acanthamoeba castellani

Entamoeba invadens

Giardia intestinalis

G. intestinalis str. GS clone H7

G. intestinalis str. WB clone 6

Plasmodium falciparum

Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Trichomonas vaginalis

Trypanosoma brucei

FURTHER INFORMATION

Staffan G. Svärd's homepage

Giardia DB

Glossary

Cyst

The resistant, transmissive form of the giardial parasite.

Relic organelle

A cellular organelle that has evolved into a reduced form with fewer or novel functions.

Excyzoite

A short-lived stage of the giardial parasite that initiates infection.

Trophozoite

The replicating, disease-causing form of the giardial parasite.

Fe–S cluster

An essential cofactor of proteins that are involved in catalysis and electron transport. A cluster contains a sulphide-linked di-, tri- or tetra-iron centre that can exist in one of several oxidation states.

Allelic sequence heterozygosity

The sequence difference between different alleles of the same gene.

Intrinsic pathway

An apoptotic pathway in which the crucial step is the permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane.

Extrinsic pathway

An apoptotic pathway that is mediated by the binding of an extracellular ligand to a transmembrane receptor.

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Ankarklev, J., Jerlström-Hultqvist, J., Ringqvist, E. et al. Behind the smile: cell biology and disease mechanisms of Giardia species. Nat Rev Microbiol 8, 413–422 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2317

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