Abscisic acid controls calcium-dependent egress and development in Toxoplasma gondii

Kisaburo Nagamune, Leslie M. Hicks, Blima Fux, Fabien Brossier, Eduardo N. Chini and L. David Sibley ()
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Kisaburo Nagamune: Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
Leslie M. Hicks: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, 975 N. Warson Road, St Louis, Missouri 63132, USA
Blima Fux: Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
Fabien Brossier: Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
Eduardo N. Chini: Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA
L. David Sibley: Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 451, issue 7175, 207-210

Abstract: The wrong kind of hormone? Calcium signalling plays an important role in determining the virulence of the human pathogen Toxoplasma gondii, an apicomplexan protozoon. A study of the mechanisms involved has uncovered a surprising agent for this signalling: the plant hormone abscisic acid. Comparative genomics reveals that the pathway for synthesis of the plant hormone was acquired by endosymbiosis. This pathway controls a crucial developmental switch between lytic growth and dormancy, which is a key component of pathogenesis. The plant-like nature of this pathway may be exploited to develop new therapeutics as shown by the ability of a specific inhibitor of abscisic acid biosynthesis to protect mice from lethal infection.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06478

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