A membrane receptor platform integrates cues for egress and invasion in blood forms and activation of transmission stages.

Critical events in the life cycle of malaria-causing parasites depend on cyclic guanosine monophosphate homeostasis by guanylyl cyclases (GCs) and phosphodiesterases, including merozoite egress or invasion of erythrocytes and gametocyte activation. These processes rely on a single GCα, but in the absence of known signaling receptors, how this pathway integrates distinct triggers is unknown. We show that temperature-dependent epistatic interactions between phosphodiesterases counterbalance GCα basal activity preventing gametocyte activation before mosquito blood feed.

An Sfi1-like centrin-interacting centriolar plaque protein affects nuclear microtubule homeostasis.

Malaria-causing parasites achieve rapid proliferation in human blood through multiple rounds of asynchronous nuclear division followed by daughter cell formation. Nuclear divisions critically depend on the centriolar plaque, which organizes intranuclear spindle microtubules. The centriolar plaque consists of an extranuclear compartment, which is connected via a nuclear pore-like structure to a chromatin-free intranuclear compartment.

Ca signals critical for egress and gametogenesis in malaria parasites depend on a multipass membrane protein that interacts with PKG.

Calcium signaling regulated by the cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) controls key life cycle transitions in the malaria parasite. However, how calcium is mobilized from intracellular stores in the absence of canonical calcium channels in is unknown. Here, we identify a multipass membrane protein, ICM1, with homology to transporters and calcium channels that is tightly associated with PKG in both asexual blood stages and transmission stages.

A divergent cyclin/cyclin-dependent kinase complex controls the atypical replication of a malaria parasite during gametogony and transmission.

Cell cycle transitions are generally triggered by variation in the activity of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) bound to cyclins. Malaria-causing parasites have a life cycle with unique cell-division cycles, and a repertoire of divergent CDKs and cyclins of poorly understood function and interdependency. We show that CDK-related kinase 5 (CRK5), is a critical regulator of atypical mitosis in the gametogony and is required for mosquito transmission.

Epistasis studies reveal redundancy among calcium-dependent protein kinases in motility and invasion of malaria parasites.

In malaria parasites, evolution of parasitism has been linked to functional optimisation. Despite this optimisation, most members of a calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) family show genetic redundancy during erythrocytic proliferation. To identify relationships between phospho-signalling pathways, we here screen 294 genetic interactions among protein kinases in Plasmodium berghei.

A multistage antimalarial targets the plasmepsins IX and X essential for invasion and egress.

Regulated exocytosis by secretory organelles is important for malaria parasite invasion and egress. Many parasite effector proteins, including perforins, adhesins, and proteases, are extensively proteolytically processed both pre- and postexocytosis. Here we report the multistage antiplasmodial activity of the aspartic protease inhibitor hydroxyl-ethyl-amine-based scaffold compound 49c.

Multiple short windows of calcium-dependent protein kinase 4 activity coordinate distinct cell cycle events during gametogenesis.

Malaria transmission relies on the production of gametes following ingestion by a mosquito. Here, we show that Ca-dependent protein kinase 4 controls three processes essential to progress from a single haploid microgametocyte to the release of eight flagellated microgametes in . A myristoylated isoform is activated by Ca to initiate a first genome replication within twenty seconds of activation.

Structural and functional dissection of Toxoplasma gondii armadillo repeats only protein.

Rhoptries are club-shaped, regulated secretory organelles that cluster at the apical pole of apicomplexan parasites. Their discharge is essential for invasion and the establishment of an intracellular lifestyle. Little is known about rhoptry biogenesis and recycling during parasite division.

Molecular characterization of Toxoplasma gondii formin 3, an actin nucleator dispensable for tachyzoite growth and motility.

Toxoplasma gondii belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, a group of obligate intracellular parasites that rely on gliding motility to enter host cells. Drugs interfering with the actin cytoskeleton block parasite motility, host cell invasion, and egress from infected cells. Myosin A, profilin, formin 1, formin 2, and actin-depolymerizing factor have all been implicated in parasite motility, yet little is known regarding the importance of actin polymerization and other myosins for the remaining steps of the parasite lytic cycle.

Toxoplasma gondii transmembrane microneme proteins and their modular design.

Host cell invasion by the Apicomplexa critically relies on regulated secretion of transmembrane micronemal proteins (TM-MICs). Toxoplasma gondii possesses functionally non-redundant MIC complexes that participate in gliding motility, host cell attachment, moving junction formation, rhoptry secretion and invasion. The TM-MICs are released onto the parasite's surface as complexes capable of interacting with host cell receptors.

Anti-CD20 therapeutic antibody rituximab modifies the functional organization of rafts/microdomains of B lymphoma cells.

Incubation of Burkitt lymphoma-derived Raji cells at physiological temperature with submicromolar concentrations of humanized anti-CD20 antibody rituximab (RTX) redistributes CD20 to liquid-ordered, plasma membrane rafts. This accumulation of the CD20 tetraspan protein in rafts does not change the existing lipid and phosphoprotein composition but makes sphingolipids and the Src regulator Cbp/PAG (Csk-binding protein/phosphoprotein associated with glycosphingolipid-enriched microdomain) transmembrane phosphoprotein more resistant to n-octyl-beta-pyranoside, a detergent that dissociates sphingolipid clusters. On the contrary, sphingolipids and Cbp/PAG are not protected by the presence of CD20 against the disruptive effects of methyl-beta-cyclodextrin, a cyclic carbohydrate that removes membrane cholesterol.