ArticleNature communications2021
In situ ultrastructures of two evolutionarily distant apicomplexan rhoptry secretion systems.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 45 papers.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- A conserved GTPase complex gates exocytosis for defence and parasitism across alveolates.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Clustering of host N-glycans by the microneme MIC1/4/6 complex licenses Toxoplasma rhoptry discharge.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Physiology of invasiveFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Atomic models of the Toxoplasma cell invasion machinery.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
- Cellular Hallmarks From Volume Electron Microscopy Reveal Developmental Progression of Plasmodium Ookinetes.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Pathogenicity and virulence ofVirulence · 2025Review
- RNG2 tethers the conoid to the apical polar ring in Toxoplasma gondii to enable parasite motility and invasion.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- The invasion pore induced by Toxoplasma gondii.EMBO reports · 2025Article
- Perforation of the host cell plasma membrane during Toxoplasma invasion requires rhoptry exocytosis.EMBO reports · 2025Article
- mSphere of Influence: From pixels to parasite insight-cryo-EM is rewiring apicomplexan cell biology.mSphere · 2025Article
- Droplet Squeeze Microfluidic Platform for Generating Extracellular Vesicle Hybrids for Drug Delivery.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- Review
- Training Generalized Segmentation Networks with Real and Synthetic Cryo-ET data.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Adaptations and metabolic evolution of myzozoan protists across diverse lifestyles and environments.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2024Review
- Architecture of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- γ-tubulin complex controls the nucleation of tubulin-based structures in Apicomplexa.Molecular biology of the cell · 2024Article
- CRISPR-based functional profiling of the Toxoplasma gondii genome during acute murine infection.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- Plasmodium RON11 triggers biogenesis of the merozoite rhoptry pair and is essential for erythrocyte invasion.PLoS biology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Parasites of the phylum Apicomplexa cause important diseases including malaria, cryptosporidiosis and toxoplasmosis. These intracellular pathogens inject the contents of an essential organelle, the rhoptry, into host cells to facilitate invasion and infection. However, the structure and mechanism of this eukaryotic secretion system remain elusive. Here, using cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging, we report the conserved architecture of the rhoptry secretion system in the invasive stages of two evolutionarily distant apicomplexans, Cryptosporidium parvum and Toxoplasma gondii. In both species, we identify helical filaments, which appear to shape and compartmentalize the rhoptries, and an apical vesicle (AV), which facilitates docking of the rhoptry tip at the parasite's apical region with the help of an elaborate ultrastructure named the rhoptry secretory apparatus (RSA); the RSA anchors the AV at the parasite plasma membrane. Depletion of T. gondii Nd9, a protein required for rhoptry secretion, disrupts the RSA ultrastructure and AV-anchoring. Moreover, T. gondii contains a line of AV-like vesicles, which interact with a pair of microtubules and accumulate towards the AV, leading to a working model for AV-reloading and discharging of multiple rhoptries. Together, our analyses provide an ultrastructural framework to understand how these important parasites deliver effectors into host cells.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.