Bioessays. 2011 Jul 20. doi: 10.1002/bies.201100054. [Epub ahead of print]
The secreted kinase ROP18 defends Toxoplasma's border
Fentress SJ, Sibley LD
SourceDepartment of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii is a highly successful parasite capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals by actively invading nucleated host cells and forming a modified compartment where it replicates within the cytosol. The parasite-containing vacuole provides a safe haven, even in professional phagocytes such as macrophages, which normally destroy foreign microbes. In an effort to eliminate the parasite, the host up-regulates a family of immunity-related p47 GTPases (IRGs), which are recruited to the parasite-containing vacuole, resulting in membrane rupture and digestion of the parasite. To avoid this fate, highly virulent strains of Toxoplasma coat the external surface of their vacuole with a secretory serine/threonine kinase, known as ROP18. At this host-pathogen interface, ROP18 phosphorylates and inactivates IRGs, thereby protecting the parasite from killing. These findings reveal a novel molecular mechanism by which the parasite disarms host innate immunity.
Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PMID:21773979[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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