Toxoplasma is the somewhat infamous parasite that in the wild exclusively reproduces in cats (it infects prey, mice, as part of its lifecycle and then alters th

Toxoplasma is the somewhat infamous parasite that in the wild exclusively reproduces in cats (it infects prey, mice, as part of its lifecycle and then alters their behavior to make them easier for cats to catch, but then reproduces in cats). There isn't any cure or vaccine, and still a lot of research to do. But until now it hadn't been determined why reproduction was species specific, and so the only way to get more to try to study was to raise lab cats, infect them, incubate, and then kill them and harvest it. This team figured out that linoleic acid was the key differentiator and now have done preliminary work that shows they may be able to get them to go through a full cycle in mice with the right drug (and genetic modification to eliminate that requirement is the next step). It's pretty cool research and if they've got it right would be a big deal for further Toxo studies, dramatically reducing the research reqs and experimentation cycle time by allowing use of a standard lab model and not depending on going through actual cats. Edit to add: It looks like The Atlantic also has a good more general article [1] of this research and overview of the surrounding context. I'm not sure if it's available to everyone though, I'm a subscriber and sometimes I think they paywall stuff. 1: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/groundbreaking-parasite-study-good-news-cats/593779/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/groundbr...