The Structure and Biosynthesis of Glycans in the Parasitic Protists

Abstract

Parasitic protists are evolutionarily divergent single-celled eukaryotes that cause a range of diseases in humans and domestic livestock and impact on the public health and economic development of many countries around the world. They include members of the Apicomplexa (causative agents of malaria, toxoplasmosis and cryptosporidiosis), the Kinetoplastida (causative agents of human African trypanosomiasis, Chagas Disease and leishmaniasis), the Metamonada (causative agents of giardiasis, trichomoniasis), and Archamoeba (amoebic dysentery). Glycans play a key role in the biology of these organisms (1) as integral components of the complex surface coats that protect different parasite developme..