Toxoplasma as a novel system for motility

Soldati-Favre, Dominique; Meissner, Markus

doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2003.11.013

Scientific article

English

Toxoplasma as a novel system for motility

Contributors

Soldati-Favre, Dominique

; Meissner, Markus

Published in

Current opinion in cell biology, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 32-40

Publication date

2004

Abstract

Motility is a characteristic of most living organisms and often requires specialized structures like cilia or flagella. An alternative is amoeboid movement, where the polymerization/depolymerization of actin leads to the formation of pseudopodia, filopodia and/or lamellipodia that enable the cell to crawl along a surface. Despite their lack of locomotive organelles and in absence of cell deformation, members of the apicomplexan parasites employ a unique form of locomotion called gliding motility to promote their migration across biological barriers and to power host-cell invasion and egress. Detailed studies in Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium species have revealed that this unique mode of movement is dependent on a myosin of class XIV and necessitates actin dynamics and the concerted discharge and processing of adhesive proteins. Gliding is essential for the survival and infectivity of these obligate intracellular parasites, which cause severe disease in humans and animals.

Keywords

Actins/metabolism
Animals
Cytoskeleton/physiology
Locomotion
Models, Animal
Myosins/genetics
Plasmodium falciparum/chemistry/physiology
Signal Transduction
Toxoplasma/cytology/physiology

UNIGE affiliation entities

Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine fondamentale / Département de microbiologie et médecine moléculaire

UNIGE research groups

Biologie d'un parasite intracellulaire obligatoire (773)

Citation (ISO format)

SOLDATI-FAVRE, Dominique, MEISSNER, Markus. Toxoplasma as a novel system for motility. In: Current opinion in cell biology, 2004, vol. 16, n° 1, p. 32–40. doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2003.11.013

Article (Accepted version)

Identifiers

PID : unige:78036
DOI : 10.1016/j.ceb.2003.11.013
PMID : 15037302

Journal ISSN

0955-0674

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592downloads

Creation

01/12/2015 08:36:00

First validation

01/12/2015 08:36:00

Update

14/03/2023 23:54:53

Status update

14/03/2023 23:54:52

Last indexation

31/10/2024 02:08:36

Toxoplasma as a novel system for motility

Contributors

Published in

Publication date

Abstract

Keywords

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

Main files (1)

Identifiers

Journal ISSN

Technical informations

Creation

First validation

Update

Status update

Last indexation