Biology of Giardia lamblia

doi:10.1128/CMR.14.3.447-475.2001

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Clinical Microbiology Reviews, July 2001, p. 447-475, Vol. 14, No. 3
0893-8512/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/CMR.14.3.447-475.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Biology of Giardia lamblia

Rodney D. Adam^*

Departments of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona

Giardia lamblia is a common cause of diarrhea in humans and other mammals throughout the world. It can be distinguished fromother Giardia species by light or electron microscopy. The twomajor genotypes of G. lamblia that infect humans are so differentgenetically and biologically that they may warrant separate speciesor subspecies designations. Trophozoites have nuclei and a well-developedcytoskeleton but lack mitochondria, peroxisomes, and the componentsof oxidative phosphorylation. They have an endomembrane systemwith at least some characteristics of the Golgi complex and encoplasmicreticulum, which becomes more extensive in encysting organisms.The primitive nature of the organelles and metabolism, as wellas small-subunit rRNA phylogeny, has led to the proposal thatGiardia spp. are among the most primitive eukaryotes. G. lambliaprobably has a ploidy of 4 and a genome size of approximately10 to 12 Mb divided among five chromosomes. Most genes have short5' and 3' untranslated regions and promoter regions that are nearthe initiation codon. Trophozoites exhibit antigenic variationof an extensive repertoire of cysteine-rich variant-specific surfaceproteins. Expression is allele specific, and changes in expressionfrom one vsp gene to another have not been associated with sequencealterations or gene rearrangements. The Giardia genome projectpromises to greatly increase our understanding of this interestingand enigmatic organism.

^* Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, 1501 N. Campbell, Tucson,AZ 85724-5049. Phone: (520) 626-6430. Fax: (520) 626-2100. E-mail:adamr{at}u.arizona.edu.

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