scholarly journals TgROP18 Targets IL20RB for Host Defence Related-STAT3 Activation During T. gondii Infection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Kong ◽  
Dan Jiang ◽  
Cheng He ◽  
Jing Xia ◽  
Haixia We ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic protozoan infecting almost one third of the world’s population. T. gondii rhoptry protein 18 (TgROP18) is a key virulence factor determining parasite’s acute virulence and secreted into host cells during infection. We previously identified the interaction of TgROP18 and host cell immune-related receptor protein IL20RB, and observed the activation of STAT3 in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells infected by the rop16 knockout RH strain, though TgROP16 is regarded responsible for host STAT3 activation during T. gondii invasion. Therefore, we hypothesize TgROP18 can activate host STAT3 through binding to IL20RB.Methods: CRISPR-CAS9 technology was used to generate the ROP16 and ROP8 double knockout RH strain, RH-∆rop16∆rop18. SDS-PAGE and western blot was used to detect STAT3 activation in different T. gondii tachyzoites infected, recombinant ROP18 or IL-20 treated HaCaT cells with high endogenous IL20RB expression. FRET and Co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) was used to detect the protein-protein interaction. Results: We observed that TgROP18 was involved in a synergic activation of host JAK/STAT3 pathway together with TgROP16 in human HaCaT cells infected with T. gondii or treated with recombinant TgROP18 protein, stimulating host proinflammatory immune responses such as expression of TNF-a. The effect of recombinant ROP18 on STAT3 phosphorylation was presented in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, TgROP18 was identified to target IL20RB on its extracellular domain. When we treated different cell lines with the recombinant ROP18, STAT3 phosphorylation could only be observed in the cells with endogenous IL20RB expression, such as HaCaT cells. Conclusions: These findings indicated that TgROP18-IL20RB interaction was involved in STAT3 activation upon T. gondii invasion, which is associated with host cell defence.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Kong ◽  
Dan Jiang ◽  
Cheng He ◽  
Jing Xia ◽  
Haixia We ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic protozoan infecting almost one -third of the world’s population. T. gondii rhoptry protein 18 ( Tg ROP18) is a key virulence factor determining the parasite’s acute virulence and is secreted into host cells during infection. We previously identified the interaction of Tg ROP18 and host cell immune-related receptor protein IL20RB, and observed the activation of STAT3 in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells infected by the rop16 knockout RH strain, though Tg ROP16 is regarded as being responsible for host STAT3 activation during T. gondii invasion. Therefore, we hypothesize Tg ROP18 can activate host STAT3 through binding to IL20RB. Methods: CRISPR-CAS9 technology was used to generate the ROP16 and ROP8 double knockout RH strain, RH-∆rop16∆rop18. SDS-PAGE and Western blot were used to detect STAT3 activation in different HaCaT cells with high endogenous IL20RB expression treated with T. gondii tachyzoites infection, recombinant ROP18, or IL-20 . FRET and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) was used to detect the protein-protein interaction. Results: We observed that TgROP18 was involved in a synergic activation of the host JAK/STAT3 pathway together with TgROP16 in human HaCaT cells infected with T. gondii or treated with recombinant TgROP18 protein, stimulating host proinflammatory immune responses such as expression of TNF-a. The effect of recombinant ROP18 on STAT3 phosphorylation was presented in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, TgROP18 was identified to target IL20RB on its extracellular domain. When we treated different cell lines with the recombinant ROP18, STAT3 phosphorylation could only be observed in the cells with endogenous IL20RB expression, such as HaCaT cells. Conclusions: These findings indicate that TgROP18-IL20RB interaction upon T. gondii invasion was involved in STAT3 activation, which is associated with host cell defense.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Kong ◽  
Dan Jiang ◽  
Cheng He ◽  
Jing Xia ◽  
Haixia We ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic protozoan infecting almost one-third of the world’s population. T. gondii rhoptry protein 18 (TgROP18) is a key virulence factor determining the parasite’s acute virulence and is secreted into host cells during infection. We previously identified the interaction of TgROP18 and host cell immune-related receptor protein IL20RB, and observed the activation of STAT3 in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells infected by the rop16 knockout RH strain, though TgROP16 is regarded as being responsible for host STAT3 activation during T. gondii invasion. Therefore, we hypothesize TgROP18 can activate host STAT3 through binding to IL20RB.Methods: CRISPR-CAS9 technology was used to generate the ROP16 and ROP18 double knockout RH strain, RH-∆rop16∆rop18. SDS-PAGE and Western blot were used to detect STAT3 activation in different HaCaT cells with high endogenous IL20RB expression treated with T. gondii tachyzoites infection, recombinant ROP18, or IL-20. FRET and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) was used to detect the protein-protein interaction. Results: We observed that TgROP18 was involved in a synergic activation of the host JAK/STAT3 pathway together with TgROP16 in human HaCaT cells infected with T. gondii or treated with recombinant TgROP18 protein, stimulating host proinflammatory immune responses such as expression of TNF-a. The effect of recombinant ROP18 on STAT3 phosphorylation was presented in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, TgROP18 was identified to target IL20RB on its extracellular domain. When we treated different cell lines with the recombinant ROP18, STAT3 phosphorylation could only be observed in the cells with endogenous IL20RB expression, such as HaCaT cells. Conclusions: These findings indicate that TgROP18-IL20RB interaction upon T. gondii invasion was involved in STAT3 activation, which is associated with host cell defense.


1997 ◽  
Vol 110 (17) ◽  
pp. 2117-2128 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.P. Sinai ◽  
P. Webster ◽  
K.A. Joiner

The parasitophorous vacuole membrane (PVM) of the obligate intracellular protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii forms tight associations with host mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We have used a combination of morphometric and biochemical approaches to characterize this unique phenomenon, which we term PVM-organelle association. The PVM is separated from associated mitochondria and ER by a mean distance of 12 and 18 nm, respectively. The establishment of PVM-organelle association is dependent on active parasite entry, but does not require parasite viability for its maintenance. Association is not a consequence of spatial constraints imposed on the growing vacuole. Morphometric analysis indicates that the extent of mitochondrial association with the PVM stays constant as the vacuole enlarges, whereas the extent of ER association decreases. Disruption of host cell microtubules partially blocks the establishment but not the maintenance of PVM-mitochondrial association, and has no significant effect on PVM-ER association. PVM-organelle association is maintained following disruption of infected host cells, as assessed by electron microscopy and by sub-cellular fractionation showing co-migration of fixed PVM and organelle markers. Taken together, the data suggest that a high affinity, potentially protein-protein interaction between parasite and organelle components is responsible for PVM-organelle association.


1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 2455-2458 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Nakajima-Shimada ◽  
Y Hirota ◽  
T Aoki

Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease, exhibits two different developmental stages in mammals, the amastigote, an intracellular form that proliferates in the cytoplasm of host cells, and the trypomastigote, an extracellular form that circulates in the bloodstream. We have already established an in vitro culture system using mammalian host cells (HeLa) infected with T. cruzi in which the time course of parasite growth is determined quantitatively. We adopted this system for the screening of anti-T. cruzi agents that would ideally prove to be effective against trypanosomes with no toxicity to the host cell. Of the purine analogs tested, allopurinol markedly inhibited the growth of amastigotes in a dose-dependent manner, with no lethal effect on trypomastigotes. 3'-Deoxyinosine and 3'-deoxyadenosine also suppressed T. cruzi growth inside the host cell, with the concentrations causing 50% growth inhibition being 10 and 5 microM, respectively, in contrast to a concentration causing 50% growth inhibition of 3 microM for allopurinol. Among the pyrimidine analogs examined, 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (zidovudine) significantly reduced the growth of the parasite at concentrations as low as 1 microM. The anti-human immunodeficiency virus agents 2',3'-dideoxyinosine and 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine caused a decrease in amastigote growth, while 2',3'-dideoxycytidine and 2',3'-dideoxyuridine had no inhibitory effect. When Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts were used as host cells, allopurinol, 3'-deoxyinosine, 3'-deoxyadenosine, and 3'-azid-3'-deoxythymidine also markedly inhibited T. cruzi proliferation. These results indicate that our culture system is useful as a primary screening method for candidate compounds against T. cruzi on the basis of two criteria, namely, intracellular replication by the parasite and host-cell infection rate.


mBio ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shruthi Krishnamurthy ◽  
Bin Deng ◽  
Roxana del Rio ◽  
Kerry R. Buchholz ◽  
Moritz Treeck ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is a receptor protein on the surface of Toxoplasma gondii that plays a critical role in host cell invasion. The ligand to which T . gondii AMA1 (TgAMA1) binds, TgRON2, is secreted into the host cell membrane by the parasite during the early stages of invasion. The TgAMA1-TgRON2 complex forms the core of the “moving junction,” a ring-shaped zone of tight contact between the parasite and host cell membranes, through which the parasite pushes itself during invasion. Paradoxically, the parasite also expresses rhomboid proteases that constitutively cleave the TgAMA1 transmembrane domain. How can TgAMA1 function effectively in host cell binding if its extracellular domain is constantly shed from the parasite surface? We show here that when TgAMA1 binds the domain 3 (D3) peptide of TgRON2, its susceptibility to cleavage by rhomboid protease(s) is greatly reduced. This likely serves to maintain parasite-host cell binding at the moving junction, a hypothesis supported by data showing that parasites expressing a hypercleavable version of TgAMA1 invade less efficiently than wild-type parasites do. Treatment of parasites with the D3 peptide was also found to reduce phosphorylation of S527 on the cytoplasmic tail of TgAMA1, and parasites expressing a phosphomimetic S527D allele of TgAMA1 showed an invasion defect. Taken together, these data suggest that TgAMA1-TgRON2 interaction at the moving junction protects TgAMA1 molecules that are actively engaged in host cell penetration from rhomboid-mediated cleavage and generates an outside-in signal that leads to dephosphorylation of the TgAMA1 cytosolic tail. Both of these effects are required for maximally efficient host cell invasion. IMPORTANCE Nearly one-third of the world’s population is infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii , which causes life-threatening disease in neonates and immunocompromised individuals. T. gondii is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa, which includes many other parasites of veterinary and medical importance, such as those that cause coccidiosis, babesiosis, and malaria. Apicomplexan parasites grow within their hosts through repeated cycles of host cell invasion, parasite replication, and host cell lysis. Parasites that cannot invade host cells cannot survive or cause disease. AMA1 is a highly conserved protein on the surface of apicomplexan parasites that is known to be important for invasion, and the work presented here reveals new and unexpected insights into AMA1 function. A more complete understanding of the role of AMA1 in invasion may ultimately contribute to the development of new chemotherapeutics designed to disrupt AMA1 function and invasion-related signaling in this important group of human pathogens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (12) ◽  
pp. e2013336118
Author(s):  
Matthew L. Blank ◽  
Jing Xia ◽  
Mary M. Morcos ◽  
Mai Sun ◽  
Pamela S. Cantrell ◽  
...  

Host mitochondrial association (HMA) is a well-known phenomenon duringToxoplasma gondiiinfection of the host cell. TheT. gondiilocusmitochondrial association factor 1(MAF1) is required for HMA andMAF1encodes distinct paralogs of secreted dense granule effector proteins, some of which mediate the HMA phenotype (MAF1b paralogs drive HMA; MAF1a paralogs do not). To identify host proteins required for MAF1b-mediated HMA, we performed unbiased, label-free quantitative proteomics on host cells infected with type II parasites expressing MAF1b, MAF1a, and an HMA-incompetent MAF1b mutant. Across these samples, we identified ∼1,360 MAF1-interacting proteins, but only 13 that were significantly and uniquely enriched in MAF1b pull-downs. The gene products include multiple mitochondria-associated proteins, including those that traffic to the mitochondrial outer membrane. Based on follow-up endoribonuclease-prepared short interfering RNA (esiRNA) experiments targeting these candidate MAF1b-targeted host factors, we determined that the mitochondrial receptor protein TOM70 and mitochondria-specific chaperone HSPA9 were essential mediators of HMA. Additionally, the enrichment of TOM70 at the parasitophorous vacuole membrane interface suggests parasite-driven sequestration of TOM70 by the parasite. These results show that the interface between theT. gondiivacuole and the host mitochondria is characterized by interactions between a single parasite effector and multiple target host proteins, some of which are critical for the HMA phenotype itself. The elucidation of the functional members of this complex will permit us to explain the link between HMA and changes in the biology of the host cell.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sugunadevi Sakkiah ◽  
Wenjing Guo ◽  
Bohu Pan ◽  
Zuowei Ji ◽  
Gokhan Yavas ◽  
...  

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As of October 21, 2020, more than 41.4 million confirmed cases and 1.1 million deaths have been reported. Thus, it is immensely important to develop drugs and vaccines to combat COVID-19. The spike protein present on the outer surface of the virion plays a major role in viral infection by binding to receptor proteins present on the outer membrane of host cells, triggering membrane fusion and internalization, which enables release of viral ssRNA into the host cell. Understanding the interactions between the SARS-CoV-2 trimeric spike protein and its host cell receptor protein, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is important for developing drugs and vaccines to prevent and treat COVID-19. Several crystal structures of partial and mutant SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins have been reported; however, an atomistic structure of the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 trimeric spike protein complexed with ACE2 is not yet available. Therefore, in our study, homology modeling was used to build the trimeric form of the spike protein complexed with human ACE2, followed by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate interactions at the interface between the spike protein and ACE2. Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area (MMPBSA) and in silico alanine scanning were employed to characterize the interacting residues at the interface. Twenty interacting residues in the spike protein were identified that are likely to be responsible for tightly binding to ACE2, of which five residues (Val445, Thr478, Gly485, Phe490, and Ser494) were not reported in the crystal structure of the truncated spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) complexed with ACE2. These data indicate that the interactions between ACE2 and the tertiary structure of the full-length spike protein trimer are different from those between ACE2 and the truncated monomer of the spike protein RBD. These findings could facilitate the development of drugs and vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and combat COVID-19.


2006 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 3334-3341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nandini Dasgupta ◽  
Alix Ashare ◽  
Gary W. Hunninghake ◽  
Timothy L. Yahr

ABSTRACT The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa utilizes a type III secretion system (T3SS) to intoxicate eukaryotic host cells. Transcription of the T3SS is induced under calcium-limited growth conditions or following intimate contact of P. aeruginosa with host cells. In the present study, we demonstrate that expression of the T3SS is controlled by two distinct regulatory mechanisms and that these mechanisms are differentially activated in a host cell-dependent manner. The first mechanism is dependent upon ExsC, a regulatory protein that couples transcription of the T3SS to the activity of the type III secretion machinery. ExsC is essential for induction of the T3SS under low-calcium-growth conditions and for T3SS-dependent cytotoxicity towards social amoebae, insect cells, and erythrocytes. The second regulatory mechanism functions independently of ExsC and is sufficient to elicit T3SS-dependent cytotoxicity towards certain types of mammalian cells. Although this second pathway (ExsC independent) is sufficient, an exsC mutant demonstrates a lag in the induction of cytotoxicity towards Chinese hamster ovary cells and is attenuated for virulence in a mouse pneumonia model. We propose that the ExsC-dependent pathway is required for full cytotoxicity towards all host cell types tested whereas the ExsC-independent pathway may represent an adaptation that allows P. aeruginosa to increase expression of the T3SS in response to specific types of mammalian cells.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Buschle ◽  
Paulina Mrozek-Gorska ◽  
Stefan Krebs ◽  
Helmut Blum ◽  
Filippo M. Cernilogar ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTEpstein-Barr virus (EBV), a herpes virus also termed HHV 4 and the first identified human tumor virus, establishes a stable long-term latent infection in human B cells, its preferred host. Upon induction of EBV’s lytic phase the latently infected cells turn into a virus factory, a process, that is governed by EBV. In the lytic, productive phase all herpesviruses ensure the efficient induction of all lytic viral genes to produce progeny, but certain of these genes also repress the ensuing antiviral responses of the virally infected host cells, regulate their apoptotic death or control the cellular transcriptome. We now find that EBV causes previously unknown massive and global alterations in the chromatin of its host cell upon induction of the viral lytic phase and prior to the onset of viral DNA replication. The viral initiator protein of the lytic cycle, BZLF1, binds to >105binding sites with different sequence motifs in cellular chromatin and in a concentration dependent manner. Concomitant with DNA binding, silent chromatin opens locally as shown by ATAC-seq experiments, while previously wide-open cellular chromatin becomes inaccessible on a global scale within hours. While viral transcripts increase drastically, the induction of the lytic phase results in a massive reduction of cellular transcripts and a loss of chromatin-chromatin interactions of cellular promoters with their distal regulatory elements as shown in Capture-C experiments. Our data document that EBV’s lytic cycle induces discrete early processes that disrupt the architecture of host cellular chromatin and repress the cellular epigenome and transcriptome likely supporting the efficientde novosynthesis of this herpesvirus.


1987 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-239
Author(s):  
I. Kimata ◽  
K. Tanabe

Monoclonal antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii were prepared to characterize antigens of the parasite. Immunoperoxidase staining of parasites fixed with paraformaldehyde and glutaraldehyde (PFAGA) followed by Triton X-100 treatment showed that the antibody of clone I-63 recognized an antigen located in the anterior part of the parasite. When analysed by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting, the antigen migrated in a 66 × 10(3) Mr region. The parasite antigen diminished greatly in parasites after invasion of host cells, but reappeared around a time when intracellular T. gondii multiplied. Immunodetection on PFAGA-fixed T. gondii-infected cells, whose membranes were permeabilized by freeze-thawing in the presence of 5% glycerol, demonstrated that, immediately after parasite invasion, the I-63 antibody-reactive antigen appeared to become associated with the parasitophorous vacuole (PV) membrane, that had been formed mainly by invagination of the host-cell plasma membrane so as to surround an invading parasite. The antigen remained associated with the PV membrane for some time, but disappeared later when the PV increased in size after the parasites had multiplied several times. These results were strengthened by immunoelectron microscopic observations: the antigen that had been localized at the anterior part of the parasite before invasion appeared in an area of the host cell cytoplasm around the tips of penetrating parasites and, thereafter, extended throughout the surface of the PV membrane when parasites completed invasion. Thus, it appears that the I-63-reactive antigen is secreted by T. gondii upon invasion of the host cell and becomes associated with the PV membrane shortly after invasion.


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