Host cell invasion by Toxoplasma gondii is temporally regulated by the host microtubule cytoskeleton.

ABSTRACT: Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that invades and replicates within most nucleated cells of warm-blooded animals. The basis for this wide host cell tropism is unknown but could be because parasites invade host cells using distinct pathways and/or repertoires of host factors. Using synchronized parasite invasion assays, we found that host microtubule disruption significantly reduces parasite invasion into host cells early after stimulating parasite invasion but not at later time points. Host microtubules are specifically associated with the moving junction, which is the site of contact between the host cell and the invading parasite. Host microtubules are specifically associated with the moving junction of those parasites invading early after stimulating inv

SUBMITTER: Sweeney KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2976295 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature