Cryoelectron tomography reveals periodic material at the inner side of subpellicular microtubules in apicomplexan parasites

Item Type:	Article
Title:	Cryoelectron tomography reveals periodic material at the inner side of subpellicular microtubules in apicomplexan parasites
Creators Name:	Cyrklaff, M. and Kudryashev, M. and Leis, A. and Leonard, K. and Baumeister, W. and Menard, R. and Meissner, M. and Frischknecht, F.
Abstract:	Microtubules are dynamic cytoskeletal structures important for cell division, polarity, and motility and are therefore major targets for anticancer and antiparasite drugs. In the invasive forms of apicomplexan parasites, which are highly polarized and often motile cells, exceptionally stable subpellicular microtubules determine the shape of the parasite, and serve as tracks for vesicle transport. We used cryoelectron tomography to image cytoplasmic structures in three dimensions within intact, rapidly frozen Plasmodium sporozoites. This approach revealed microtubule walls that are extended at the luminal side by an additional 3 nm compared to microtubules of mammalian cells. Fourier analysis revealed an 8-nm longitudinal periodicity of the luminal constituent, suggesting the presence of a molecule interacting with tubulin dimers. In silico generation and analysis of microtubule models confirmed this unexpected topology. Microtubules from extracted sporozoites and Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites showed a similar density distribution, suggesting that the putative protein is conserved among Apicomplexa and serves to stabilize microtubules.
Keywords:	Cryoelectron Microscopy, Fourier Analysis, Microtubules, Molecular Models, Plasmodium, Sporozoites, Tomography, Animals
Source:	Journal of Experimental Medicine
ISSN:	0022-1007
Publisher:	Rockefeller University Press
Volume:	204
Number:	6
Page Range:	1281-1287
Date:	11 June 2007
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20062405
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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