Toxoplasma gondii UBL-UBA Shuttle Protein DSK2s Are Important for Parasite Intracellular Replication |
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| Authors: | Heng Zhang Xu Yang Zhu Ying Jing Liu Qun Liu |
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| Affiliation: | 1.National Animal Protozoa Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; (H.Z.); (X.Y.); (Z.Y.);2.Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology of the Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China |
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| Abstract: | Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an important human and veterinary pathogen causing life-threatening disease in immunocompromised patients. The UBL-UBA shuttle protein family are important components of the ubiquitin–proteasome system. Here, we identified a novel UBL-UBA shuttle protein DSK2b that is charactered by an N-terminal ubiquitin-like domain (UBL) and a C-terminal ubiquitin-associated domain (UBA). DSK2b was localized in the cytoplasm and nucleus. The deletion of dsk2b did not affect the degradation of ubiquitinated proteins, parasite growth in vitro or virulence in mice. The double-gene knockout of dsk2b and its paralogs dsk2a (ΔΔdsk2adsk2b) results in a significant accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins and the asynchronous division of T. gondii. The growth of ΔΔdsk2adsk2b was significantly inhibited in vitro, while virulence in mice was not attenuated. In addition, autophagy occurred in the ΔΔdsk2adsk2b, which was speculated to degrade the accumulated ubiquitinated proteins in the parasites. Overall, DSK2b is a novel UBL-UBA shuttle protein contributing to the degradation of ubiquitinated proteins and is important for the synchronous cell division of T. gondii. |
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| Keywords: | Toxoplasma gondii UBL-UBA shuttle protein degradation of ubiquitinated proteins cell division |
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