Proteomic identification of a <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> sporozoite-specific antigen using HDAC3 inhibitor-treated tachyzoites as surrogate.

ABSTRACT: The apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii has a complex life cycle. Access to sexual stages and sporozoite-containing oocysts, essential for studying the parasite's environmental transmission, is limited and requires animal experiments with cats. Thus, alternatives and resource-efficient methods are needed. Several molecular factors and transcriptional switches responsible for differentiation have been identified in recent years. In tachyzoites, drug-induced inhibition of the histone deacetylase HDAC3, or genetic depletion of transcription factors regulating HDAC3, leads to the expression of genes that are specific to sexual stages and oocysts. Here, we applied this concept and showed that the commercially available HDAC3 inhibitor apicidin could be used to identify the hitherto u

SUBMITTER: Warschkau D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11719624 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature