A Member of the Ferlin Calcium Sensor Family Is Essential for Toxoplasma gondii Rhoptry Secretion.

ABSTRACT: Invasion of host cells by apicomplexan parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii is critical for their infectivity and pathogenesis. In Toxoplasma, secretion of essential egress, motility, and invasion-related proteins from microneme organelles is regulated by oscillations of intracellular Ca²⁺ Later stages of invasion are considered Ca²⁺ independent, including the secretion of proteins required for host cell entry and remodeling from the parasite's rhoptries. We identified a family of three Toxoplasma proteins with homology to the ferlin family of double C2 domain-containing Ca²⁺ sensors. In humans and model organisms, such Ca²⁺ sensors orchestrate Ca²⁺-dependent exocytic membrane fusion with the plasma membrane. Here w

SUBMITTER: Coleman BI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6168857 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature