Apicomplexan perforin-like proteins

Abstract

Numerous perforin-like proteins are encoded in the genomes of apicomplexan parasites, where they are expressed in various life-cycle stages and play critical roles pathogenesis and life-cycle progression. These ApiPLPs are characterized by the presence of a MACPF domain, a fold responsible for pore-formation in target membranes in a number of systems, including many bacterial pathogens and effector cells of the immune response. ApiPLP MACPF domains maintain the critical structural elements but are often present in new and intriguing domains arrangements. Recent work in Toxoplasma and Plasmodium has shown that ApiPLPs are important for breaching membranes during parasite egress and cell traversal. Here we present an overview of is important protein family from a structural, functional, and phylogenetic perspective across the Apicomplexa.

Acknowledgements

PLP-related studies in the Carruthers lab are supported by grant RO1AI046675 from the National Institutes of Health.

Figures and Tables

Figure 1 ApiPLP Domain Architecture. Indicated are predicted signal peptides (orange) or signal anchors (green), MACPF domains (red) and APC-β domains (blue). TaPLP5 is predicted as three separate genes in T. parva. No gene predictions are available for Eimeria but the Eimeria tenella genome contains two PLPs with APC-β domains. P. berghei and P. chabaudi genomes each have six predicted PPLPs but in both cases two of these predictions represent the same gene.

Table 1 ApiPLP stage-specific expression