Dissecting gene function through large-scale mutant screens
Leishmania has over 8000 protein-coding genes and for the vast majority it is still unclear how they contribute to parasite survival and transmission. To discover new information about the biology of the parasite we use a range of genetic tools to track proteins within the cell and study the effect of mutations, e.g. through fitness screens of pooled populations of gene knockout mutants ("bar-seq" screens).
From the WCIP comic ‘Parasite’ by Jamie Hall, Rachel Morris and Edward Ross
We are excited to work on a collaborative 5-year multi-partner project to test the fitness of gene knockouts systematically on a genome-wide scale, and integrate the deletion bar-seq data with large scale tagging data for Leishmania-specific proteins to understand organelle adaptations in different life cycle stages and virulence factors required for pathogenicity.LeishGEM.org
Funding:The Wellcome Trust