Forschungsprojekte
Cyclic nucleotides (cAMP/cGMP) are well known to mediate stress signaling, which regulates gene expression and development in many organisms including microbial pathogens. During my PhD project I will focus on the determination of functional and physiological importance of native cGMP signaling cascade in T. gondii type I strains. Critical roles of cGMP signaling in key stages of parasite life cycle, such as invasion and motility processes, will be elucidated using optogenetic tools by transgenic lines including light-activated proteins to be increased cGMP level in parasite. These transgenic lines will enable also to detect genes regulated by signaling cascade. All these works will enable us to identify therapeutic targets inhibiting parasite development by preventing the cyclic nucleotide signaling cascade.