Discussion

There is a persisting need for new drugs against Trypanosoma cruzi. Our plan is to render in vitro assays against T. cruzi more predictive by the inclusion of stage-specific fluorescent reporters. To obtain a suitable transgenic parasite line, amastigote- and trypomastigote-specific genes were identified and chosen as loci of integration for reporter constructs. Having optimized the transfection protocol, we proceed to establish a T. cruzi line expressing stage-specific reporters.