Calcium Entry in Toxoplasma gondii and Its Enhancing Effect of Invasion-linked Traits
Journal of Biological Chemistry(2014)
Abstract
During invasion and egress from their host cells, Apicomplexan parasites face sharp changes in the surrounding calcium ion (Ca2+) concentration. Our work with Toxoplasma gondii provides evidence for Ca2+ influx from the extracellular milieu leading to cytosolic Ca2+ increase and enhancement of virulence traits, such as gliding motility, conoid extrusion, microneme secretion, and host cell invasion. Assays of Mn2+ and Ba2+ uptake do not support a canonical store-regulated Ca2+ entry mechanism. Ca2+ entry was blocked by the L-type Ca2+ channel inhibitor nifedipine and stimulated by the increase in cytosolic Ca2+ and by the specific L-type Ca2+ channel agonist Bay K-8644. Our results demonstrate that Ca2+ entry is critical for parasite virulence. We propose a regulated Ca2+ entry mechanism activated by cytosolic Ca2+ that has an enhancing effect on invasion-linked traits.
MoreTranslated text
Key words
Calcium,Cell Invasion,Fluorescence,Parasite,Protozoan,Signaling,Conoid Extrusion,Gliding Motility,Toxoplasma gondii,Nifedipine
AI Read Science
Must-Reading Tree
Example
![](https://originalfileserver.aminer.cn/sys/aminer/pubs/mrt_preview.jpeg)
Generate MRT to find the research sequence of this paper
Chat Paper
Summary is being generated by the instructions you defined