Australian researchers have uncovered how a particular strain of a diarrhoea-causing parasite managed to infect more animal species, offering new insights into how parasitic infections emerge and spread to people.

The WEHI-led study has revealed a genetic shortcut that may help Giardia duodenalis and many other parasites jump to new hosts at the cost of long-term survival. The findings may also help explain how parasites evolve drug resistance, with implications for treatment strategies worldwide.

Sulfolobus islandicus, an archaeal model organism, offers unique advantages for metabolic engineering and synthetic biology applications owing to its ability to thrive under low pH and high temperature conditions. Although several genetic tools exist for this organism, the absence of well-defined chromosomal integration sites continues to limit its development as a cellular factory. A research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign employed the CRISPR-COPIES pipeline and a multi-omics strategy that integrates genomics and epigenomics to guide the selection of genomic regions suitable for integration. This work expands the genetic toolbox for non-conventional hosts, advancing the potential for robust platforms for synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology.