A Coccidia-Specific Phosphate Transporter Is Essential for the Growth of Toxoplasma gondii Parasites.

Microbiol Spectr

State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural Universitygrid.35155.37, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China.

Published: October 2022

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that acquires all necessary nutrients from the hosts, but the exact nutrient acquisition mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we identified three putative phosphate transporters in T. gondii. TgPiT and TgPT2 are mainly on the plasma membrane, whereas TgmPT is localized to the mitochondrion. TgPiT and TgmPT are widely present and conserved in apicomplexan parasites that include and species. Nonetheless, they are dispensable for the growth and virulence of . TgPT2, on the other hand, is restricted to coccidia parasites and is essential for survival. TgPT2 depletion led to reduced motility and invasion, as well as growth arrest of the parasites both and . Both TgPiT and TgPT2 have phosphate transport activities and contribute to parasites' inorganic phosphate (P) absorption. Interestingly, the P importing activity of parasites could be competitively inhibited by ATP and AMP. Furthermore, direct uptake of P-ATP was also observed, indicating the parasites' ability to scavenge host ATP. Nonetheless, ATP/AMP import is not mediated by TgPiT or TgPT2, suggesting additional mechanisms. Together, these results show the complex pathways of phosphate transport in , and TgPT2 is a potential target for antitoxoplasmic intervention design due to its essential role in parasite growth. To grow and survive within host cells, must scavenge necessary nutrients from hosts to support its parasitism. Transporters located in the plasma membrane of the parasites play critical roles in nutrient acquisition. encodes a large number of transporters, but so far, only a few have been characterized. In this study, we identified two phosphate transporters, TgPiT and TgPT2, to localize to the plasma membrane of Although both TgPiT and TgPT2 possess phosphate transport activities, only the novel transporter TgPT2 was essential for parasite growth, both and . In addition, TgPT2 and its orthologs are only present in coccidia parasites. As such, TgPT2 represents a potential target for drug design against toxoplasmosis. In addition, our data indicated that can take up ATP and AMP from the environment, providing new insights into the energy metabolism of .

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9604053PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02186-22DOI Listing

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A Coccidia-Specific Phosphate Transporter Is Essential for the Growth of Toxoplasma gondii Parasites.

Microbiol Spectr

October 2022

State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural Universitygrid.35155.37, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China.

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that acquires all necessary nutrients from the hosts, but the exact nutrient acquisition mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we identified three putative phosphate transporters in T. gondii.

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