Role of cytoneme structures and extracellular vesicles in Trichomonas vaginalis parasite-parasite communication.

ABSTRACT: Trichomonas vaginalis, the etiologic agent of the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection worldwide. With an estimated annual prevalence of 276 million new cases, mixed infections with different parasite strains are expected. Although it is known that parasites interact with their host to enhance their own survival and transmission, evidence of mixed infections call into question the extent to which unicellular parasites communicate with each other. Here, we demonstrated that different T. vaginalis strains can communicate through the formation of cytoneme-like membranous cell connections. We showed that cytonemes formation of an adherent parasite strain (CDC1132) is affected in the presence of a different strain (G3 or B7RC2). Our findings provide evidence that t

SUBMITTER: Salas N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10270686 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature