ABSTRACT Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas’ disease, which affects a large number of individuals in Central and South America, is transmitted to vertebrate hosts by blood-sucking insects. This protozoan is an obligate intracellular parasite. The infective forms of the parasite are metacyclic and bloodstream trypomastigote and amastigote. Metacyclic trypomastigotes are released with the feces of the insect while amastigotes and blood stream trypomastigotes are released from the infected host cells of the vertebrate host after a complex intracellular life cycle. The recognition between parasite and mammalian host cell involves numerous molecules present in both cell types. Here we review the new advances in the understanding of this pathogen interaction with host provided by the rapid progress in Molecular Biology, as the commemoration of the 60 years of the double-helix discovery is imminent.
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