Neglected tropical diseases affect more than 1 billion people–one sixth of the world’s population. Despite their devastating health consequences, these diseases, which occur in some of the world’s poorest and most remote communities, often receive little attention from global funding agencies and pharmaceutical companies. It can also be difficult for researchers to study, because many neglected tropical diseases are caused by parasites with large, complex genomes.
Now, in order to make it easier to study these neglected diseases, researchers at George Washington University, in collaboration with colleagues in France and Germany, have developed a model organism from a genetically modified parasitic worm. The team identified four so-called genomic safe harbor sites on the chromosome of the parasitic worm, Schistosoma mansoni. These “Goldilocks” sites are places where genes or genetic elements can be safely inserted without harming the organism.
The article was published in the journal Cell Reporting Methods.
Using CRISPR technology, Wannaporn Ittiprasert Tanno and Paul J. Brindley, research professors of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, successfully inserted a transgene into a genome safe harbor area, which when expressed in the worm, fluoresces bright green.
The researchers say that their method creates a model that can be used for testing additional gene therapies in helminth parasites with the ultimate goal of developing new drugs and vaccines to treat and prevent schistosomiasis and other similar diseases.
More information:
Wannaporn Ittiprasert et al, Targeted insertion and reporter transgene activity of a safe harbor gene in the human blood fluke, Schistosoma mansoni, Cell Reporting Methods (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2023.100535
Provided by George Washington University
Citation: Researchers develop model to study neglected tropical diseases (2023, July 24) retrieved on July 24, 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-07-neglected-tropical-diseases.html
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