Host cell subversion by Toxoplasma GRA16, an exported dense granule protein that targets the host cell nucleus and alters gene expression
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PROVIDER: PRJNA168971 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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Project description:After invading host cells, Toxoplasma gondii multiplies within a parasitophorous vacuole (PV) that is maintained by parasite proteins secreted from organelles called dense granules. Most dense granule proteins remain within the PV and few are known to access the host cell cytosol. We identify GRA16 as a dense granule protein that is exported through the PV membrane and reaches the host cell nucleus where it positively modulates genes involved in cell cycle progression and the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. GRA16 binds two host enzymes, the deubiquitinase HAUSP and PP2A phosphatase, which exert several functions, including regulation of p53 and the cell cycle. GRA16 alters p53 levels in a HAUSP-dependent manner and induces nuclear translocation of the PP2A holoenzyme. Additionally, certain GRA16-deficient strains exhibit attenuated virulence, indicating the importance of these host alterations in pathogenesis. Therefore, GRA16 represents a potentially emerging subfamily of exported dense granule proteins that modulate host function.
2013-02-06 | GSE38779 | GEO
Project description:Toxoplasma gondii multiplies inside a parasitophorous vacuole in the host cell. Several parasite proteins have been described that hijack host signaling pathways, which mostly originate from the rhoptry organelles. We report here the identification and characterization of GRA16, the first dense granule protein shown to be exported through the parasitophorous vacuole membrane and to reach the host cell nucleus. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that GRA16 positively modulates the expression of host genes involved in cell-cycle progression and the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. We show that GRA16 directly binds two host enzymes, the deubiquitinase HAUSP and the phosphatase PP2A, and that GRA16 alters p53 protein levels in a HAUSP-dependent manner and induces the nuclear translocation of the PP2A holoenzyme. Therefore GRA16 is a novel regulator of the HAUSP/p53 pathway and together with GRA15, emerge as a subfamily of new dense granule proteins exported beyond the tachyzoites-hosting vacuole to subvert the host transcriptome. Mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) or Human foreskin fibroblasts (HFFs) were infected with the following Toxoplasma gondii strains: - RHku80 WT versus RHku80(deltaGRA16) mutant (in BMDM) - Pruku80 WT versus Pruku80(deltaGRA16) mutant (in BMDM) - RHku80 WT versus RHku80(deltaGRA16) mutant (in HFF)
2013-02-06 | E-GEOD-38779 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that resides inside a parasitophorous vacuole. During infection, Toxoplasma actively remodels the transcriptome of its hosting cells with profound and coupled impact on the host immune response. We report that Toxoplasma secretes GRA24, a novel dense granule protein which traffics from the vacuole to the host cell nucleus. Once released into the host cell, GRA24 has the unique ability to trigger prolonged autophosphorylation and nuclear translocation of the host cell p38M-NM-1 MAP kinase. This noncanonical kinetics of p38M-NM-1 activation correlates with the up-regulation of the transcription factors Egr-1 and c-Fos and the correlated synthesis of key proinflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-12 and the chemokine MCP-1, both known to control early parasite replication in vivo. Remarkably, the GRA24-p38M-NM-1 complex is defined by peculiar structural features and uncovers a new regulatory signaling path distinct from the MAPK signaling cascade and otherwise commonly activated by stress-related stimuli or various intracellular microbes. GRA24 = PSP7 Mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) were infected with the following Toxoplasma gondii strains: - RHku80 WT versus RHku80(deltaPSP7) mutant - Pruku80 WT versus Pruku80(deltaPSP7) mutant
2013-09-01 | E-GEOD-38782 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that resides inside a parasitophorous vacuole. During infection, Toxoplasma actively remodels the transcriptome of its hosting cells with profound and coupled impact on the host immune response. We report that Toxoplasma secretes GRA24, a novel dense granule protein which traffics from the vacuole to the host cell nucleus. Once released into the host cell, GRA24 has the unique ability to trigger prolonged autophosphorylation and nuclear translocation of the host cell p38α MAP kinase. This noncanonical kinetics of p38α activation correlates with the up-regulation of the transcription factors Egr-1 and c-Fos and the correlated synthesis of key proinflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-12 and the chemokine MCP-1, both known to control early parasite replication in vivo. Remarkably, the GRA24-p38α complex is defined by peculiar structural features and uncovers a new regulatory signaling path distinct from the MAPK signaling cascade and otherwise commonly activated by stress-related stimuli or various intracellular microbes.
2013-09-01 | GSE38782 | GEO
Project description:Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites co-opt host cell functions through introduction of a large set of rhoptry- and dense granule-derived effector proteins. These effectors reach the host cytosol through different means: direct injection for rhoptry effectors and translocation across the parasitophorous vacuolar membrane (PVM) for dense granule (GRA) effectors. The machinery that translocates these GRA effectors has recently been partially elucidated, revealing 3 components, MYR1, MYR2 and MYR3. To determine if other proteins might be involved, we returned to a library of mutants defective in GRA translocation and selected one that has a partial defect, suggesting it might be in a gene encoding a new component of the machinery. Whole-genome sequencing showed that this mutant indeed has a missense mutation in a gene encoding a known serine/threonine protein kinase, ROP17, which has not previously been reported to be involved in GRA translocation. ROP17 resides at the PVM in infected cells and has previously been known for its activity in phosphorylating and, thereby, inactivating host immunity-related GTPases. Here, we show that null or catalytically dead mutants of ROP17 are defective in GRA translocation across the PVM, and that translocation across the PVM surrounding a Δrop17 mutant can be rescued “in trans” by ROP17 delivered by other tachyzoites infecting the same host cell. This strongly argues for a role for ROP17 at the PVM, not within the parasites or parasitophorous vacuole space. Hence, ROP17 plays a crucial part in GRA translocation, adding another function to the role it plays in modulating the interaction of Toxoplasma tachyzoites and the infected host cell.
2019-07-02 | GSE133144 | GEO
Project description:Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular parasite that causes the disease toxoplasmosis in humans. It is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa that also includes significant human pathogens such as Plasmodium spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. causing malaria and diarrheal disease, respectively. These parasites use a programmed sequence of secretory events to find, invade, and then reengineer their host cells to enable parasite growth and proliferation. After invasion, Toxoplasma secretes proteins for host cell remodelling and manipulation from dense granules. The site(s) of dense granule exocytosis, however, has been unknown. In Toxoplasma gondii, small subapical annular structures that are embedded in the inner membrane complex have been observed, but the role or significance of these apical annuli to plasma membrane function has also been unknown. We have identified four integral membrane proteins of the plasma membrane that occur specifically at these apical annular sites. These proteins are an LMBR-domain containing protein TgLMBD3, and three SNARE proteins TgStxPM, TgNPSN, and TgSyp7. Using widefield-microscopy, we discovered that depletion of each of these proteins results in reduced secretion of dense granule proteins, implicating the apical annuli as a site of exocytosis in Toxoplasma. To further understand the role of these proteins and the impact of their depletion on the parasite, we performed whole-cell quantitative proteomics in control and knockdown cell lines. Several hundred proteins have been identified and quantified in three biological replicates for every knockdown cell line and the untreated control line. The majority of enriched proteins in the knockdown cell lines are those packaged in dense granules, indicating their failure to be secreted outside the cell. The apical annuli are therefore sites of SNARE-mediated exocytosis of dense granules in Toxoplasma.
2024-01-25 | PXD044588 | Pride
Project description:The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii has co-evolved with its homeothermic hosts (humans included) strategies that drive its quasi-asymptomatic persistence in hosts, hence optimizing the chance of transmission to new hosts. Persistence, which starts with a small subset of parasites that escape host immune killing and colonize the so-called immune privileged tissues where they differentiate into a low replicating stage, is driven by the interleukin 12 (IL-12)-interferon-γ (IFN-γ) axis. Recent characterization of a family of Toxoplasma effectors that are delivered into the host cell, in which they rewire the host cell gene expression, has allowed the identification of regulators of the IL-12-IFN-γ axis, including repressors. We now report on the dense granule-resident effector, called TEEGR (Toxoplasma E2F4-associated EZH2-inducing gene regulator) that counteracts the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signalling pathway. Once exported into the host cell, TEEGR ends up in the nucleus where it not only complexes with the E2F3 and E2F4 host transcription factors to induce gene expression, but also promotes shaping of a non-permissive chromatin through its capacity to switch on EZH2. Remarkably, EZH2 fosters the epigenetic silencing of a subset of NF-κB-regulated cytokines, thereby strongly contributing to the host immune equilibrium that influences the host immune response and promotes parasite persistence in mice.
2019-02-15 | GSE113658 | GEO
Project description:The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii has co-evolved with its homeothermic hosts (humans included) strategies that drive its quasi-asymptomatic persistence in hosts, hence optimizing the chance of transmission to new hosts. Persistence, which starts with a small subset of parasites that escape host immune killing and colonize the so-called immune privileged tissues where they differentiate into a low replicating stage, is driven by the interleukin 12 (IL-12)-interferon-γ (IFN-γ) axis. Recent characterization of a family of Toxoplasma effectors that are delivered into the host cell, in which they rewire the host cell gene expression, has allowed the identification of regulators of the IL-12-IFN-γ axis, including repressors. We now report on the dense granule-resident effector, called TEEGR (Toxoplasma E2F4-associated EZH2-inducing gene regulator) that counteracts the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signalling pathway. Once exported into the host cell, TEEGR ends up in the nucleus where it not only complexes with the E2F3 and E2F4 host transcription factors to induce gene expression, but also promotes shaping of a non-permissive chromatin through its capacity to switch on EZH2. Remarkably, EZH2 fosters the epigenetic silencing of a subset of NF-κB-regulated cytokines, thereby strongly contributing to the host immune equilibrium that influences the host immune response and promotes parasite persistence in mice.
2019-02-15 | GSE113626 | GEO
Project description:The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii has co-evolved with its homeothermic hosts (humans included) strategies that drive its quasi-asymptomatic persistence in hosts, hence optimizing the chance of transmission to new hosts. Persistence, which starts with a small subset of parasites that escape host immune killing and colonize the so-called immune privileged tissues where they differentiate into a low replicating stage, is driven by the interleukin 12 (IL-12)-interferon-γ (IFN-γ) axis. Recent characterization of a family of Toxoplasma effectors that are delivered into the host cell, in which they rewire the host cell gene expression, has allowed the identification of regulators of the IL-12-IFN-γ axis, including repressors. We now report on the dense granule-resident effector, called TEEGR (Toxoplasma E2F4-associated EZH2-inducing gene regulator) that counteracts the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signalling pathway. Once exported into the host cell, TEEGR ends up in the nucleus where it not only complexes with the E2F3 and E2F4 host transcription factors to induce gene expression, but also promotes shaping of a non-permissive chromatin through its capacity to switch on EZH2. Remarkably, EZH2 fosters the epigenetic silencing of a subset of NF-κB-regulated cytokines, thereby strongly contributing to the host immune equilibrium that influences the host immune response and promotes parasite persistence in mice.
2019-02-15 | GSE113618 | GEO
Project description:Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that must establish a favorable environment in the host cells in which it replicates. To do this, it controls key host cell processes by MYR-dependent translocation of dense granule proteins from the parasitophorous vacuole into the host cytosol. Using RNASeq, we previously reported that mutants lacking the MYR translocation apparatus fail to elicit a key set of host responses related to regulation of the cell cycle, including cyclin E and other targets of E2F transcription factors. As no previously reported effector was known to mediate such an effect, we report here our application of a set of criteria to proteins secreted by Toxoplasma leading to our discovery of a novel effector protein that induces the host to produce cyclin E. This inducer of Host Cyclin E (HCE1) is exported from the parasitophorous vacuole in a manner dependent on MYR1 and ASP5, another component of the export system, where it then localizes to the host’s nucleus. HCE1 expression is important for parasite growth as those lacking it produce plaques that are ~35% smaller in area than wild type parasites. RNASeq of host cells infected with parasites lacking HCE1 compared to those infected with wild type parasites shows a complete loss of the parasite’s ability to modulate key host cell cycle genes including those related to the E2F axis. Immunoprecipitation of HCE1 from infected host cells shows that HCE1 efficiently binds elements of the cyclin E regulatory complex: DP1 and its partners E2F3 and E2F4. Expression of HCE1 in Neospora caninum, which is not otherwise capable of up-regulating cyclin E, or in uninfected HFFs, shows nuclear localization of the expressed protein and results in strong cyclin E up-regulation. Thus, HCE1 is a novel, stand-alone effector protein that is necessary and sufficient to impact the E2F-axis of transcription resulting in co-opting of host functions to Toxoplasma’s advantage.
2018-11-22 | GSE122786 | GEO