A plant/fungal-type phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase located in the parasite mitochondrion ensures glucose-independent survival of Toxoplasma gondii.

ABSTRACT: Toxoplasma gondii is considered to be one of the most successful intracellular pathogens, because it can reproduce in varied nutritional milieus, encountered in diverse host cell types of essentially any warm-blooded organism. Our earlier work demonstrated that the acute (tachyzoite) stage of T. gondii depends on cooperativity of glucose and glutamine catabolism to meet biosynthetic demands. Either of these two nutrients can sustain the parasite survival; however, what determines the metabolic plasticity has not yet been resolved. Here, we reveal two discrete phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) enzymes in the parasite, one of which resides in the mitochondrion (TgPEPCK_mt), whereas the other protein is not expressed in t</

SUBMITTER: Nitzsche R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5602384 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature