Molecular parasitology goes cellular.

Application of molecular genetics is an increasingly feasible undertaking in parasitology; however, an understanding of the phenotypes of various mutants generated by this approach will ultimately rely on cellular approaches to resolve the function of various proteins. In addition to the advances in understanding the biology of parasitism, such studies probably will uncover fundamental aspects of how eukaryotic cells communicate and regulate their responses to the environment. Thus, parasites may one day provide useful biological tools, just as viruses and bacterial toxins have done in the past, towards probing the biology of mammalian cells.