To invade host cells, one group of parasites relies on a protein that promotes the release of sticky molecules from a specialized organelle called a microneme.
Parasites of the phylum Apicomplexa, which includes those responsible for malaria (Plasmodium falciparum) and toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii), secrete a mixture of adhesion proteins at their surfaces, allowing them to stick to host cells. Marc-Jan Gubbels at Boston College in Massachusetts and his colleagues sequenced the genome of a mutant strain of Toxoplasma with an impaired ability to release its microneme contents or invade cells. They found a mutation in a protein called DOC2.1. Shutting off the gene encoding an equivalent protein in Plasmodium also impaired this parasite's ability to invade.
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How parasites get sticky. Nature 481, 241 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/481241b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/481241b