Role of Besnoitia besnoiti cytosolic chaperonin in host cell invasion

Financiador

Organização

Publicações

Besnoitia besnoiti and Toxoplasma gondii invasion : the role of the parasite's tubulin folding pathway and manipulation of host cell organization

Publication . Cardoso, Rita Isabel de Amorim; Leitão, José Alexandre da Costa Perdigão e Cameira; Soares, Maria Helena Antunes

Besnoitia besnoiti and Toxoplasma gondii, the etiological agents of besnoitiosis and toxoplasmosis, respectively, are two apicomplexan parasites unable to replicate outside the host cell. In order to survive inside the host cell, these parasites have developed strategies to subvert the cytoskeleton and the endomembrane system of the host cell. In this work, the strategies used by B. besnoiti and T. gondii to manipulate the cytoskeleton, remodeling microtubules (MTs), and interfering with the centrosome and Golgi apparatus of the host cell are studied. We observed that the parasitophorous vacuole (PV) of both parasites is surrounded by host MTs, but only T. gondii recruits the host cell centrosome towards the PV. However, the host Golgi apparatus is recruited to the PV by both parasites but its organization is affected in different ways. The differences found between these two parasites are most likely a result of two distinct evolutionary mechanisms and might reflect the different tissue tropism and pathogeny. Since not only the host cell cytoskeleton, but also the cytoskeleton of the parasite, participate in the establishment of infection, this work also addresses the role of the parasite cytoskeleton during entry and development inside the host cell. For this we propose that components of the tubulin folding pathway are good candidates to regulate cytoskeleton dynamics and reorganization during host invasion. Thus, we started the characterization of the gene structure and expression patterns of the components of tubulin folding pathway (CCTα, TBCB, TBCE and α-tubulin). These studies suggest that these proteins have an important role in parasite replication. Overall, our results contribute to the present knowledge of the mechanisms underlying host cell invasion by these parasites, which might be important for the definition of future therapeutic strategies.

2014-12-19Tese de doutoramento

Acesso aberto

Ver mais

Entidade financiadora

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Programa de financiamento

3599-PPCDT

Número da atribuição

PTDC/CVT/71630/2006