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Originally published in Science Express on 25 March 2004
Science 16 April 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5669, pp. 441 - 445
DOI: 10.1126/science.1094786
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Reports

Complete Genome Sequence of the Apicomplexan, Cryptosporidium parvum

Mitchell S. Abrahamsen,1,2*{dagger} Thomas J. Templeton,3{dagger} Shinichiro Enomoto,1 Juan E. Abrahante,1 Guan Zhu,4 Cheryl A. Lancto,1 Mingqi Deng,1 Chang Liu,1{ddagger} Giovanni Widmer,5 Saul Tzipori,5 Gregory A. Buck,6 Ping Xu,6 Alan T. Bankier,7 Paul H. Dear,7 Bernard A. Konfortov,7 Helen F. Spriggs,7 Lakshminarayan Iyer,8 Vivek Anantharaman,8 L. Aravind,8 Vivek Kapur2,9

The apicomplexan Cryptosporidium parvum is an intestinal parasite that affects healthy humans and animals, and causes an unrelenting infection in immunocompromised individuals such as AIDS patients. We report the complete genome sequence of C. parvum, type II isolate. Genome analysis identifies extremely streamlined metabolic pathways and a reliance on the host for nutrients. In contrast to Plasmodium and Toxoplasma, the parasite lacks an apicoplast and its genome, and possesses a degenerate mitochondrion that has lost its genome. Several novel classes of cell-surface and secreted proteins with a potential role in host interactions and pathogenesis were also detected. Elucidation of the core metabolism, including enzymes with high similarities to bacterial and plant counterparts, opens new avenues for drug development.

1 Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
2 Biomedical Genomics Center, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
3 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Medical College and Program in Immunology, Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University, New York, NY 10021, USA.
4 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
5 Division of Infectious Diseases, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA.
6 Center for the Study of Biological Complexity and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23198, USA.
7 MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK.
8 National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA.
9 Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.



{dagger} These authors contributed equally to this work.

{ddagger} Present address: Bioinformatics Division, Genetic Research, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, 5 Moore Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27009, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: abe{at}umn.edu

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