Ackers, JP

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Ackers, JP (2016) Book review: Amebiasis. Biology and Pathogen-esis of Entamoeba. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7. ISSN 1664-302XDOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00819Downloaded from: http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/2551470/DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00819Usage GuidelinesPlease refer to usage guidelines at http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/policies.html or alterna-tively contact researchonline@lshtm.ac.uk.Available under license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/BOOK REVIEWpublished: 27 May 2016doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00819Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 1 May 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 819Edited by:Thomas Dandekar,University of Wuerzburg, GermanyReviewed by:Falk Hillmann,Leibniz Institute for Natural ProductResearch and Infection Biology –Hans Knöll Institute, GermanyHaider Abdul-Lateef Mousa,University of Basrah, Iraq*Correspondence:John P. Ackersjohn.ackers@lshtm.ac.ukSpecialty section:This article was submitted toInfectious Diseases,a section of the journalFrontiers in MicrobiologyReceived: 20 January 2016Accepted: 13 May 2016Published: 27 May 2016Citation:Ackers JP (2016) Book Review:Amebiasis. Biology and Pathogenesisof Entamoeba.Front. Microbiol. 7:819.doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00819Book Review: Amebiasis. Biologyand Pathogenesis of EntamoebaJohn P. Ackers *Department of Pathogen Molecular Biology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine, London, UKKeywords: Entamoeba histolytica, amebiasis, review, Entamoeba histolytica biology, amebiasis pathogenesisA book review onAmebiasis. Biology and Pathogenesis of EntamoebaEdited by Tomoyoshi Nozaki and Alok Bhattacharya, Tokyo: Springer Japan, 2015In every research laboratory there is “the book”—the standard text, given to people newly enteringthe field and frequently referred to by the rest of us. In the amoebiasis world, this was the massiveand magisterial 1988 volume edited by Jonathan Ravdin. But since then there has not been acomparable work produced which would reflect the enormous increase in knowledge which hasaccrued in the subsequent 25 years. Is this newly-published book it?Part I deals with four topics. The first chapter describes the continuously expanding Entamoebauniverse; a multi-branched (phylogenetic) tree which has grown explosively from the seed planted20 years ago by the realization that most people excreting cysts of “Entamoeba histolytica” were infact infected with Entamoeba dispar. Cheap and rapid DNA sequencing has driven this revolution;but while raw data may now appear in terabytes, assembling it into an accurate genome has provedchallenging and frustrating, as chapter 2 makes clear. The next two chapters cover genetic typing ofisolates; this may be less computationally taxing than genome assembly but the results are equallyhard to interpret. Genetic manipulation has been an immensely powerful research technique inmany fields; disappointingly it has turned out to be difficult to apply to E. histolytica. Much usefuldata has been accumulated but many frustrations remain, as the final chapter makes clear.Part II considers the regulation of gene expression. The first chapter deals with mapping thetranscriptome; written in a clear and approachable style, this chapter is a model of what an overviewshould be. The organization of E. histolytica ribosomal RNA genes is somewhat unusual andtheir structure and replication is clearly explained in Chapter 8. The following chapter covers theregulation of gene expression by small RNA molecules and expands on some of the topics dealtwith in Part I. Chapter 10 deals with retrotransposons—mobile genetic elements which make upa significant fraction of most eukaryote’s DNA, including E. histolytica. The authors are from oneof the laboratories which have contributed most to this field and their expertise is evident. Thefinal chapter focusses on the links between environmental stress and epigenetic regulation—a topicattracting great interest amongst both basic scientists and clinicians.Part III covers Cell Biology and Signaling. The first chapter details the many steps between initialrecognition of an ingestible particle and its final destination. Many different molecules are involved,listed in a useful summary Table. Chapter 13 covers signaling. Evolution doesn’t favor simplicityand nowhere is this more apparent than the interlocking tangle of eukaryotic signaling pathways.This chapter briefly describes the major paths through a forest of acronyms. The next chapter ismore specialized, dealing with a newly discovered family of transmembrane kinases, and is followedby a review of one of the most active areas of current research—cell surface molecules as virulencedeterminants. A well written chapter which clearly summarize how much we now know—but howmuch more there is still to understand. The remainder of Part III covers cell division (a seriouslyodd process, even by the standards of E. histolytica), trafficking of cysteine proteases andmitosomes.Ackers Book Review: Biology and Pathogenesis of EntamoebaThe essential functions of these mitochondrial relics differ fromorganism to organism; those of E. histolytica are well describedhere.Part IV is concerned with with Metabolism. The openingchapter describes the metabolomics analysis of E. histolytica.The potential of the method is clear and already surprising andexciting results have emerged. The remaining chapters are morespecialized. Chapter 20 deals with glucose metabolism and itsinvestigation by Metabolic Control Analysis and the followingtwo chapters cover the proteins involved in the biosynthesis ofcysteine and DNA replication respectively.Part V concentrates on Pathogenesis and Immunity. Chapter23 describes the pathology seen in patients with the commonestforms of clinical amoebiasis. A brief summary of the many stepsinvolved in pathogenesis is followed by a description of theavailable animal models. Continuing with the attack, Chapter 25describes the contribution of cysteine proteases to pathogenesis.Tuning to the host’s attempts to defend itself, three chapters(rather oddly arranged) discuss this. Chapter 24 and 26 coverinnate defenses and in particular the vital role of intestinalmucus—if this is not penetrated there is no pathology. Chapter28 covers the links between host genetic makeup and innatesusceptibility, while Chapter 29 discusses an equally importanttopic—the adaptive immune response produced in infectedhumans and animal. Finally, Chapter 26 discusses in detail apoint made by several others—that the hosts immune response isitself responsible for a significant amount of the tissue destructionobserved.The last part of the book covers drug discovery anddrug resistance. This section begins with an excellent andinformative chapter on metronidazole. One really surprisingfact is that although clinical resistance has appeared amongstmost of the organisms against which metronidazole is employed,such resistance has never been observed with E. histolytica.Nevertheless, there is still much interest in developing alternativechemotherapeutic agents, and this is the subject of the finalchapters in the book.The book is in general well produced although some of theFigures and Tables (reproduced from other sources) are reallytoo small; for example Figures 8.1, 9.1, and 14.1. I noticeda small number of proof-reading errors—cross references aremissing from Chapter 12 and on page 531 “ESR” is, here, not anabbreviation for “Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate.”These days any book that attempts to summarize a fast-moving area such as research on E. histolytica is out-of-datebefore it goes to the printer. This volume is no exception, butit is as current as could be expected. It focusses on specific areas;others such as clinical amoebiasis or epidemiology are not dealtwith in any detail, but the title of the volume makes it clear thatthis is not its remit. This is principally a handbook for laboratoryresearchers and for them it will prove invaluable for many yearsto come.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSThe author confirms being the sole contributor of this work andapproved it for publication.Conflict of Interest Statement: The author declares that the research wasconducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that couldbe construed as a potential conflict of interest.Copyright © 2016 Ackers. This is an open-access article distributed under the termsof the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution orreproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensorare credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordancewith accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permittedwhich does not comply with these terms.Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 2 May 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 819

Book review:	Amebiasis. Biology and Pathogenesis of Entamoeba

John Philip Ackers

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John P. Ackers

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Book Review: Amebiasis. Biology and Pathogenesis of Entamoeba

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BOOK REVIEW
published: 27 May 2016
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00819
Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 1 May 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 819
Edited by:
Thomas Dandekar,
University of Wuerzburg, Germany
Reviewed by:
Falk Hillmann,
Leibniz Institute for Natural Product
Research and Infection Biology –
Hans Knöll Institute, Germany
Haider Abdul-Lateef Mousa,
University of Basrah, Iraq
*Correspondence:
John P. Ackers
john.ackers@lshtm.ac.uk
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Infectious Diseases,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Microbiology
Received: 20 January 2016
Accepted: 13 May 2016
Published: 27 May 2016
Citation:
Ackers JP (2016) Book Review:
Amebiasis. Biology and Pathogenesis
of Entamoeba.
Front. Microbiol. 7:819.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00819
Book Review: Amebiasis. Biology
and Pathogenesis of Entamoeba
John P. Ackers *
Department of Pathogen Molecular Biology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Keywords: Entamoeba histolytica, amebiasis, review, Entamoeba histolytica biology, amebiasis pathogenesis
A book review on
Amebiasis. Biology and Pathogenesis of Entamoeba
Edited by Tomoyoshi Nozaki and Alok Bhattacharya, Tokyo: Springer Japan, 2015
In every research laboratory there is “the book”—the standard text, given to people newly entering
the field and frequently referred to by the rest of us. In the amoebiasis world, this was the massive
and magisterial 1988 volume edited by Jonathan Ravdin. But since then there has not been a
comparable work produced which would reflect the enormous increase in knowledge which has
accrued in the subsequent 25 years. Is this newly-published book it?
Part I deals with four topics. The first chapter describes the continuously expanding Entamoeba
universe; a multi-branched (phylogenetic) tree which has grown explosively from the seed planted
20 years ago by the realization that most people excreting cysts of “Entamoeba histolytica” were in
fact infected with Entamoeba dispar. Cheap and rapid DNA sequencing has driven this revolution;
but while raw data may now appear in terabytes, assembling it into an accurate genome has proved
challenging and frustrating, as chapter 2 makes clear. The next two chapters cover genetic typing of
isolates; this may be less computationally taxing than genome assembly but the results are equally
hard to interpret. Genetic manipulation has been an immensely powerful research technique in
many fields; disappointingly it has turned out to be difficult to apply to E. histolytica. Much useful
data has been accumulated but many frustrations remain, as the final chapter makes clear.
Part II considers the regulation of gene expression. The first chapter deals with mapping the
transcriptome; written in a clear and approachable style, this chapter is a model of what an overview
should be. The organization of E. histolytica ribosomal RNA genes is somewhat unusual and
their structure and replication is clearly explained in Chapter 8. The following chapter covers the
regulation of gene expression by small RNA molecules and expands on some of the topics dealt
with in Part I. Chapter 10 deals with retrotransposons—mobile genetic elements which make up
a significant fraction of most eukaryote’s DNA, including E. histolytica. The authors are from one
of the laboratories which have contributed most to this field and their expertise is evident. The
final chapter focusses on the links between environmental stress and epigenetic regulation—a topic
attracting great interest amongst both basic scientists and clinicians.
Part III covers Cell Biology and Signaling. The first chapter details the many steps between initial
recognition of an ingestible particle and its final destination. Many different molecules are involved,
listed in a useful summary Table. Chapter 13 covers signaling. Evolution doesn’t favor simplicity
and nowhere is this more apparent than the interlocking tangle of eukaryotic signaling pathways.
This chapter briefly describes the major paths through a forest of acronyms. The next chapter is
more specialized, dealing with a newly discovered family of transmembrane kinases, and is followed
by a review of one of the most active areas of current research—cell surface molecules as virulence
determinants. A well written chapter which clearly summarize how much we now know—but how
much more there is still to understand. The remainder of Part III covers cell division (a seriously
odd process, even by the standards of E. histolytica), trafficking of cysteine proteases andmitosomes.
Ackers Book Review: Biology and Pathogenesis of Entamoeba
The essential functions of these mitochondrial relics differ from
organism to organism; those of E. histolytica are well described
here.
Part IV is concerned with with Metabolism. The opening
chapter describes the metabolomics analysis of E. histolytica.
The potential of the method is clear and already surprising and
exciting results have emerged. The remaining chapters are more
specialized. Chapter 20 deals with glucose metabolism and its
investigation by Metabolic Control Analysis and the following
two chapters cover the proteins involved in the biosynthesis of
cysteine and DNA replication respectively.
Part V concentrates on Pathogenesis and Immunity. Chapter
23 describes the pathology seen in patients with the commonest
forms of clinical amoebiasis. A brief summary of the many steps
involved in pathogenesis is followed by a description of the
available animal models. Continuing with the attack, Chapter 25
describes the contribution of cysteine proteases to pathogenesis.
Tuning to the host’s attempts to defend itself, three chapters
(rather oddly arranged) discuss this. Chapter 24 and 26 cover
innate defenses and in particular the vital role of intestinal
mucus—if this is not penetrated there is no pathology. Chapter
28 covers the links between host genetic makeup and innate
susceptibility, while Chapter 29 discusses an equally important
topic—the adaptive immune response produced in infected
humans and animal. Finally, Chapter 26 discusses in detail a
point made by several others—that the hosts immune response is
itself responsible for a significant amount of the tissue destruction
observed.
The last part of the book covers drug discovery and
drug resistance. This section begins with an excellent and
informative chapter on metronidazole. One really surprising
fact is that although clinical resistance has appeared amongst
most of the organisms against which metronidazole is employed,
such resistance has never been observed with E. histolytica.
Nevertheless, there is still much interest in developing alternative
chemotherapeutic agents, and this is the subject of the final
chapters in the book.
The book is in general well produced although some of the
Figures and Tables (reproduced from other sources) are really
too small; for example Figures 8.1, 9.1, and 14.1. I noticed
a small number of proof-reading errors—cross references are
missing from Chapter 12 and on page 531 “ESR” is, here, not an
abbreviation for “Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate.”
These days any book that attempts to summarize a fast-
moving area such as research on E. histolytica is out-of-date
before it goes to the printer. This volume is no exception, but
it is as current as could be expected. It focusses on specific areas;
others such as clinical amoebiasis or epidemiology are not dealt
with in any detail, but the title of the volume makes it clear that
this is not its remit. This is principally a handbook for laboratory
researchers and for them it will prove invaluable for many years
to come.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and
approved it for publication.
Conflict of Interest Statement: The author declares that the research was
conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could
be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Copyright © 2016 Ackers. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or
reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor
are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance
with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted
which does not comply with these terms.
Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 2 May 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 819


http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00819

Book review: Amebiasis. Biology and Pathogenesis of Entamoeba

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