To bet or not to bet: deciphering cell to cell variation in protozoan infections

Abstract

Some of the most crucial phenotypic aspects of parasites, such as an antigen-coated surface, parasite sexual differentiation, virulence, and drug resistance, rely on adaptive plasticity and/or stochastic events. At a population level, cell to cell variability represents an avenue for rapid response to drastic changes in the environment. Single cell approaches can be used to unravel the different strategies used by parasites to survive in the context of regulated transcriptional control (apicomplexa) or in its absence (kinetoplastids).

Keywords: Leishmania; Plasmodium; Trypanosoma; cellular heterogeneity; gene expression; protozoan.