<i>Toxoplasma</i> effector <i>Tg</i>WIP hijacks dendritic cell actin and motility via Nck1/Grb2 and the WAVE complex.

ABSTRACT: The intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii enhances its dissemination to distant organs by hijacking infected leukocytes via a Trojan Horse mechanism. Upon infecting dendritic cells (DCs), Toxoplasma induces a hypermigratory phenotype characterized by podosome dissolution and formation of F-actin stress fibers. We previously showed that these cytoskeletal changes depend on the effector protein Toxoplasma WAVE complex-interacting protein (TgWIP) secreted from parasites to infected leukocytes. Here, we identify the host adaptor proteins non-catalytic region of tyrosine kinase adaptor protein 1 and 2 (Nck1/2) and growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 (Grb2) as direct TgWIP interactors. TgWIP mainly uses two distinct proline-rich regions (PRRs) to i

SUBMITTER: Morales P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12691643 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature