ABSTRACT

Entamoeba histolytica is a human pathogen that causes dysentery. Symptoms include bloody diarrhea lasting several weeks, fever, stomach pain, cramping, and nausea. According to the World Health Organization, there are ~100 million symptomatic E. histolytica infections each year, although up to 1 billion people may be infected as ~90% of infections are asymptomatic.

E. histolytica has two life forms: the growing amoeba and the dormant cyst. Cysts have a hard shell made of chitin and proteins to withstand harsh environments and are responsible for transmitting disease through contaminated food and water. Cysts convert to the amoeba form in the small intestine, which then colonize the large intestine. Here, amoebae can form cysts again in a process called encystation. Encystation requires changes in gene expression. Genes that are turned up or down at the same time may be regulated by the same proteins binding upstream at specific sequences. 

In this project, we used the MEME program to analyze the upstream regions of sets of genes that are turned up or turned down together to identify sequences that are shared among multiple genes within a set. This may be a way to identify regulatory sequences responsible for initiating the encystation process.