Toxoplasma gondii Toxolysin 4 Contributes to Efficient Parasite Egress from Host Cells.

ABSTRACT: Egress from host cells is an essential step in the lytic cycle of T. gondii and other apicomplexan parasites; however, only a few parasite secretory proteins are known to affect this process. The putative metalloproteinase toxolysin 4 (TLN4) was previously shown to be an extensively processed microneme protein, but further characterization was impeded by the inability to genetically ablate TLN4. Here, we show that TLN4 has the structural properties of an M16 family metalloproteinase, that it possesses proteolytic activity on a model substrate, and that genetic disruption of TLN4 reduces the efficiency of egress from host cells. Complementation of the knockout strain with the TLN4 coding sequence significantly restored egress competency, affirming that the phenotype of

SUBMITTER: Huynh MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8265663 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature