Advance Online Publication May 28, 2012 doi: 10.1242/?jcs.103648 Violaine Delorme-Walker, Marie Abrivard, Vanessa Lagal, Karen Anderson, Audrey Perazzi, Virginie Gonzalez, Christopher Page, Juliette Chauvet, Wendy Ochoa, Niels Volkmann, Dorit Hanein and Isabelle Tardieux*?5 Correspondence should be addressed to I. T. (email : isabelle.tardieux{at}inserm.fr) Toxoplasma, a human pathogen and a model apicomplexan parasite, actively and rapidly invades host cells. To initiate invasion, the parasite induces the formation of a parasite-cell junction, progressively propels itself through the junction inside a newly formed vacuole that encloses the entering parasite. Litle is known how a few micron-large diameter parasite overcome the host cell cortical actin barrier to support these remarkably rapid process of internalization (< few seconds). Correlative light and electron microscopy in conjunction with electron tomography and three-dimensional image analysis indicate that toxofilin an actin-binding protein, secreted by invading parasites correlates with localized sites of disassembly of the host cell actin meshwork. Moreover, quantitative fluorescence speckle microscopy in cells expressing toxofilin indicates that toxofilin regulates actin filament disassembly and turnover. Furthermore, Toxoplasma tachyzoites lacking toxofilin, are impaired in cortical actin disassembly and exhibit delayed invasion kinetics. We propose that toxofilin locally upregulates actin turnover thus increasing depolymerization events at the site of entry that, in turn loosens the local host cell actin meshwork, facilitating parasite internalization and vacuole folding.
View the original article here
This post was made using the
Auto Blogging Software from
WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.