Faculty - Dr. Sirinart Ananvoranich

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Our primary interest is the study of biochemical mechanisms of the obligate intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. This protozoan parasite infects an estimated one-third of North-Americans and is probably one of the most wide-spread parasite on earth. In general, the infections in healthy adults are usually asymptomatic. However, the infections in neonates and immuno-compromised individuals can be devastating. T.gondii is indeed the causative agent of congenital toxoplasmosis, the leading cause of neurological birth defects, and toxoplasmic encephalitis the most common cause of focal brain lesions in AIDS patients.

Fortunately T. gondii is an experimentally-accessible organism to which several molecular and genetic manipulation can be applied. The initial goal of the laboratory is to use antisense and ribozyme technology to disrupt the parasite nucleotide salvage pathway. The ultimate aims are to exploit these techniques to attack essential mechanisms of the parasite pathogenicity, such as invasion and differentiation.

PUBLICATIONS:

• Selected Publications:

• Roscoe S, Guo Y, Vacratsis P, Ananvoranich S.  Proteomic profile of Toxoplasma gondii stress granules by high-resolution mass spectrometry.  Can J Microbiol. 2024 Jan 1; 70(1):32-39. doi: 10.1139/cjm-2023-0091. Epub 2023 Oct 12.  PMID:  37826860.

• Roscoe S, Manni E, Roberts M, Ananvoranich S. Formation of mRNP granules in Toxoplasma gondii during the lytic cycle. Mol Biochem Parasitol. 2021; 242:111349. doi: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2020.111349. Epub 2020 Dec 28. PMID: 33383066.

• Fahim A, Afrin F, Wen G, Ananvoranich S. Characterization of natural antisense transcripts arisen from the locus encoding Toxoplasma gondii ubiquitin-like protease. Mol Biochem Parasitol. 2020; 240:111334. doi: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2020.111334. Epub 2020 Oct 1. PMID: 33011210.

• Fischer K, Roberts M, Roscoe S, Avci Y, Ananvoranich S. Toxoplasma gondii infection induces the formation of host's nuclear granules containing poly(A)-binding proteins. Can J Microbiol. 2018; 64(8):551-558. doi: 10.1139/cjm-2017-0755. Epub 2018 Apr 15. PMID: 29658303.

• Crater AK, Roscoe S, Fahim A, Ananvoranich S. Toxoplasma ubiquitin-like protease 1, a key enzyme in sumoylation and desumoylation pathways, is under the control of non-coding RNAs. Int J Parasitol. 2018; 48(11):867-880. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2018.05.001. Epub 2018 Jul 11. PMID: 30005881.

• Crater AK, Roscoe S, Roberts M, Ananvoranich S. Antisense technologies in the studying of Toxoplasma gondii. J Microbiol Methods. 2017; 138:93-99. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2015.12.013. Epub 2015 Dec 24. PMID: 26724749.

• Crater AK, Manni E, Ananvoranich S. Utilization of inherent miRNAs in functional analyses of Toxoplasma gondii genes. J Microbiol Methods. 2015; 108:92-102. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2014.11.014. Epub 2014 Dec 3. PMID: 25479428.

• Kadri D, Crater AK, Lee H, Solomon VR, Ananvoranich S. The potential of quinoline derivatives for the treatment of Toxoplasma gondii infection. Exp Parasitol. 2014; 145:135-44. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2014.08.008. Epub 2014 Aug 13. PMID: 25128801.

• Holmes M, Itaas V, Ananvoranich S. Sustained translational repression of lactate dehydrogenase 1 in Toxoplasma gondii bradyzoites is conferred by a small regulatory RNA hairpin. FEBS J. 2014; 281(22):5077-91. doi: 10.1111/febs.13048. Epub 2014 Oct 4. PMID: 25223457.

• Book Chapters:
• Ananvoranich, S., Fiola, K., Ouellet, J., Deschênes, P. and Perreault, J.P. Kinetic analysis of a bimolecular hepatitis delta ribozyme. Methods in Enzymology: Ribonucleases. Abelson, J. N. and Simon, M. I., eds Academic Press.
• Ananvoranich, S. and Perreault, J.P. Structure analysis of ribozymes. Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry: Instrumentation and Applications. Meyers, R. A. ed., John Wiley & Sons.
   

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