Unknown,Transcriptomics,Genomics,Proteomics

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Toxoplasma gondii lysine acetyltransferase GCN5-A functions in the cellular response to alkaline stress and expression of cyst genes

ABSTRACT: Parasitic protozoa such as the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii progress through their life cycle in response to stimuli in the environment or host organism. Very little is known about how proliferating tachyzoites reprogram their expressed genome in response to stresses that prompt development into latent bradyzoite cysts. We have previously linked histone acetylation with the expression of stage-specific genes, but the factors involved remain to be determined. We sought to determine if GCN5, which operates as a transcriptional co-activator by virtue of its histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity, contributed to stress-induced changes in gene expression in Toxoplasma. In contrast to other lower eukaryotes, Toxoplasma has duplicated its GCN5 lysine acetyltransferase (KAT). Disruption of the gene encoding for TgGCN5-A did not produce a severe phenotype under normal culture conditions, but here we show that the TgGCN5-A null mutant is deficient in recovering from alkaline pH, a common stress used to induce bradyzoite differentiation in vitro. The TgGCN5-A knockout is incapable of up-regulating key marker genes expressed during development of the latent cyst form. Complementation of the TgGCN5-A knockout restores the expression of these stress-induced genes and reverses the stress recovery defect. We also describe a genome-wide analysis of the Toxoplasma transcriptional response to alkaline pH stress, finding that TgGCN5-A knockout parasites fail to up-regulate 68% of the stress response genes that are induced 2-fold or more in wild-type. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we verify an enrichment of TgGCN5-A at the upstream regions of genes activated by alkaline pH exposure, including developmentally regulated genes. Wild-type and GCN5-A- Knockout organisms were subjected to control and stress treatments

ORGANISM(S): Toxoplasma gondii

SUBMITTER: William Sullivan

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-22100 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress

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Publications

Toxoplasma gondii lysine acetyltransferase GCN5-A functions in the cellular response to alkaline stress and expression of cyst genes.

Naguleswaran Arunasalam A Elias Eliana V EV McClintick Jeanette J Edenberg Howard J HJ Sullivan William J WJ

PLoS pathogens 20101216 12

Parasitic protozoa such as the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii progress through their life cycle in response to stimuli in the environment or host organism. Very little is known about how proliferating tachyzoites reprogram their expressed genome in response to stresses that prompt development into latent bradyzoite cysts. We have previously linked histone acetylation with the expression of stage-specific genes, but the factors involved remain to be determined. We sought to determine if GCN5, whi ...[more]

PMID: 21179246

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Project description:Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite whose rapid lytic replication cycles define its pathogenicity. We identified a temperature sensitive growth mutant, FV-P6, which irreversibly arrests before the middle of the G1 stage of the tachyzoite cell cycle. This arrest is caused by a point mutation in a gene conserved across eukaryotes, Cactin, whose product localizes to the nucleus. To elucidate the role of TgCactin we performed genome-wide expression profiling of FV-P6 mutant parasites at 35C and 40C, as well as FV-P6 complemented with a wild-type Cactin encoding cosmid (TOXO93 or comp) and as a pseudo-diploid wild-type line encoding both the wild-type and mutant Cactin locus (S4.2), also at both temperatures. Besides the expected G1 expression profile, many genes associated with the extracellular state as well as with the bradyzoite cyst stage were identified. Consistent with these profiles were the expression of AP2 transcription factors typically associated with extracellular and bradyzoite stage parasites. This suggests a role for TgCactin in control of gene expression. Since TgCactin does not contain any functionally defined domains we reasoned TgCactin exerts its function through interactions with other proteins. In support of this model we demonstrated that TgCactin is present in a protein complex and can oligomerize. Taken together, these results suggest that TgCactin acts as a pivotal protein potentially regulating gene expression at several transition points in parasite development. The role of Cactin in G1 progression of Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites was assessed by expression profiling a temperature senstive mutant of Cactin at both the permissive (35C) as well as the restrictive (40C) temperature. Controls under the same temperature conditions inlcude the mutant line complemented with a wild-type Cactin allele encoded on a cosmid and a wild-type parasite line expressing an additional, mutant allele of Cactin (pseudo-diploid line).

Dataset Information

Toxoplasma gondii lysine acetyltransferase GCN5-A functions in the cellular response to alkaline stress and expression of cyst genes

Publications

Toxoplasma gondii lysine acetyltransferase GCN5-A functions in the cellular response to alkaline stress and expression of cyst genes.

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