Entamoeba histolytica is a protozoan parasite of humans that causes 40,000-100,000 deaths annually. Clinical amoebiasis results from the spread of the normally luminal parasite into the colon wall and beyond; the key development in understanding this complex multistage process has been the publication of the E. histolytica genome, from which has come an explosion in the use of microarrays to examine changes in gene expression that result from changes in growth conditions. The genome has also revealed a unique arrangement of tRNA genes and an extraordinary number of genes for putative virulence factors, many unexpressed under the artificial conditions of growth in culture. The ability to induce apoptosis of mammalian cells and a useful, but as yet little-understood, technique for epigenetic irreversible gene silencing are other exciting developments.
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