Interactions between Cryptosporidium parvum and the Intestinal Ecosystem
Name:
Final_Master_Thesis _ OLGA DOUVROPOULOU.pdf
Size:
5.693Mb
Format:
PDF
Description:
MS Thesis
Type
ThesisAuthors
Douvropoulou, Olga
Advisors
Pain, Arnab
Committee members
Gojobori, Takashi
Hong, Pei-Ying

Widmer, Giovanni
Program
BioscienceKAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) DivisionDate
2017-04Embargo End Date
2018-05-25Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/623721
Metadata
Show full item recordAccess Restrictions
At the time of archiving, the student author of this thesis opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this thesis became available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2018-05-25.Abstract
Cryptosporidium parvum is an apicomplexan protozoan parasite commonly causing diarrhea, particularly in infants in developing countries. The research challenges faced in the development of therapies against Cryptosporidium slow down the process of drug discovery. However, advancement of knowledge towards the interactions of the intestinal ecosystem and the parasite could provide alternative approaches to tackle the disease. Under this perspective, the primary focus of this work was to study interactions between Cryptosporidium parvum and the intestinal ecosystem in a mouse model. Mice were treated with antibiotics with different activity spectra and the resulted perturbation of the native gut microbiota was identified by microbiome studies. In particular, 16S amplicon sequencing and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) were used to determine the bacterial composition and the genetic repertoire of the fecal microbial communities in the mouse gut. Following alteration of the microbial communities of mice by application of antibiotic treatment, Cryptosporidium parasites were propagated in mice with perturbed microbiota and the severity of the infection was quantified. This approach enabled the prediction of the functional capacity of the microbial communities in the mouse gut and led to the identification of bacterial taxa that positively or negatively correlate in abundance with Cryptosporidium proliferation.Citation
Douvropoulou, O. (2017). Interactions between Cryptosporidium parvum and the Intestinal Ecosystem. KAUST Research Repository. https://doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-E49CTae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.25781/KAUST-E49CT