Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium species are obligatory intracellular parasites that export proteins into in the infected cells in order to interfere with host-signaling pathways, acquire nutrients or evade host defense mechanisms. With regard to export mechanism, a wealth of information in Plasmodium spp. is available, while the mechanisms operating in T. gondii remain uncertain. The recent discovery of exported proteins in T. gondii, mainly represented by dense granule resident proteins, might explain this discrepancy and offers a unique opportunity to study the export mechanism in T. gondii. Here, we report that GRA16 export is mediated by two protein elements present in its N-terminal region. Because the first element contains a putative PEXEL linear motif (RRLAE), we hypothesized that GRA16 export depended on a maturation process involving protein cleavage. Using both N- and C-terminal epitope tags, we provide evidence for protein proteolysis occurring in the N-terminus of GRA16. We show that TgASP5, the T. gondii homolog of Plasmodium Plasmepsin V, is essential for GRA16 export and is directly responsible for its maturation in a PEXEL-dependent manner. Interestingly, TgASP5 is also involved in GRA24 export, though the GRA24 maturation mechanism is TgASP5-independent. Our data reveal different modus operandi for protein export, in which TgASP5 should play multiple functions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Apicomplexa; microbial-cell interaction; protein export; protein trafficking
- PMID:
- 26270241
- [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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