The apicomplexan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum invades and multiplies primarily in the
brush border cells of the intestinal mucosa causing in AIDS patients a severe diarrhoea that
represents a significant contributing factor leading to death. Morphological analysis
indicates that the invasion machinery of C. parvum is similar to the apical complex of other
parasites of the phylum Apicomplexa. We provide here evidence indicating that C. parvum
also shares with these parasites a molecule crucial for the invasion of host cells. We have …