Identification of a triggering mechanism will represent a major step forward towards disruption of the differentiation process and effective control of Toxoplasma infections. The process of reactivation (bradyzoite-to-tachyzoite differentiation) is critical to pathogeneses but one that is highly understudied. It is tempting to assume that reactivation may be a direct reversal of the tachyzoite-to-bradyzoite differentiation check details process. This could provide the premise for comparing gene expression patterns during differentiation

in both directions. Perhaps more challenging is the question of why some differentiation processes are reversible (e.g. tachyzoite-bradyzoite), while others are not (e.g. sporozoite–tachyzoite). A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving these processes could provide the tools required to arrest parasites growth and prevent the fatal effects of reactivation. While the sequencing Hydroxychloroquine of the Toxoplasma genome has been a significant step forward, transcript expression data and proteomic studies are important to better understand the functional significance that

is merely hinted at in the genome. In recent years, Toxoplasma has been the subject of a plethora of proteomic studies, the likes of which have been extensively covered in an excellent review by Weiss et al. (58). These proteomic studies have proven to be an invaluable resource for documenting the actively expressed proteins in tachyzoites and for better characterizing significant subproteomes, including the rhoptries and micronemes. The proteomic data from these studies also provide a wealth of information RG7420 supplier to validate and improve current gene prediction algorithms. The need for such improvements is highlighted by the global proteomic studies of Dybas et al. (59), which estimate that the currently employed gene prediction

algorithms exhibit false-negative rates ranging from 31 to 42%. Rather than recapitulate what was summarized by Weiss et al. (58), we herein present a summary of more recent developments in the field of Toxoplasma proteomics. The hydrophobic nature of many membrane proteins has been a long-standing hindrance to performing successful proteomic studies on them, as they are largely insoluble in aqueous solution. Detergents are needed to solubilize the proteins, although the inclusion of these detergents has numerous negative effects on subsequent proteomic studies. As an example, ionization products of the detergents can obscure relevant, less abundant peptide products. A common way to surmount the problem of excess detergents in proteomic studies is to resolve the solubilized proteins with one-dimensional gel electrophoresis and couple that with tandem mass spectrometry analysis (1D LC–MS/MS). This was one of the three approaches that Che et al.