Project description:Recent advances in high throughput sequencing methodologies allow the opportunity to probe in depth the transcriptomes of organisms including N. caninum and Toxoplasma gondii. In this project, we are using Illumina sequencing technology to analyze the transcriptome (RNA-Seq) of experimentally accessible stages (e.g. tachyzoites at different times points) of T. gondii VEG strain. The aim is to make comparative transcriptional landscape maps of Neospora and Toxoplasma at different time points at different life cycle stages and compare levels of expression of orthologous genes in these two organisms.