Transgenic Emeria tenella expressing fluorescent reporters aid in studying endogenous parasite development and identifying vaccine vectors for coccidiosis. However, E. acervulina has been the subject of fewer such studies. This project aimed to establish a population of transgenic E. acervulina expressing yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) for the investigation of intracellular development of this species in support of in vitro and in vivo studies. Briefly, a stock E. acervulina oocysts were propagated via passage in chickens. Meanwhile, plasmids containing YFP with evidenced success in E. tenella transfection were constructed with the incorporation of E. acervulina promoters and transfected into E. acervulina parasites. Transiently transfected sporozoites were used to infect Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney (MDBK) cells and fluorescent microscopy used to confirm expression of fluorescence. Plasmid candidates leading to successful transient transfection were selected for inoculation into chickens. Upon harvest from faeces, however, no oocysts were identified from inoculated chickens. Time and resource constraints meant that this step could not be repeated, and the project terminated with a transgenic E. acervulina strain expressing fluorescence as an in vitro tool; however, this was not established in vivo.
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