Investigation into the role of sirtuin in modulating Toxoplasma gondii survival: Cellular pharmacology and molecular biology approach

Toxoplasma gondii is capable of infecting almost any nucleated cell of warm-blooded animals and it is estimated that one-third of the world population is infected with latent toxoplasmosis. To date, there are no effective treatments available to treat and control the spread of this disease, and the survival pathways of this organism remain unclear. This thesis investigates the role of sirtuin in modulating T. gondii survival using sirtuin activators and inhibitors in tandem with gene identification, molecular cloning, protein expression, enzymatic characterization and in silico analysis of this novel parasite protein. Taken together, the findings in the present study suggest that T. gondii Sir2A may not play a role in the survival of RH strain T. gondii.