Expression of Toxoplasma gondii dense granule protein7 (GRA7) in Eimeria tenella

Dense granules are specialized secretory organelles of Apicomplexa parasites; the dense granule (GRA) proteins are believed to play a role in intracellular survival and the nutrient/waste exchange mechanism with the host cell. Until now, limited information is available concerning the characterization of GRA proteins in Eimeria. Eimeria tenella and Toxoplasma gondii are apicomplexan protozoa and share many similarities in biology and genomics. We hypothesized that GRA proteins from T. gondii could be expressed and have a similar function in E. tenella. To confirm the expression and localization of the GRA protein in T. gondii and E. tenella, a transient transfection strategy was used to express T. gondii GRA7 tagged with yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) (GRA7-YFP); T. gondii tachyzoites were transfected with the plasmid pTgtubGRA7-YFP/sagCAT, and E. tenella sporozoites were transfected with the pEtmic1GRA7-YFP/act construct. The results show that fluorescence can be expressed mainly into the parasitophorous vacuoles (PVs) of the T. gondii. GRA7 of T. gondii can also be expressed in E. tenella and can lead the fluorescence protein into the PVs of the parasites and the cavity of the sporocysts. As for the extracellular stage, YFP gathered to form small particles in the released merozoites and sporozoites, suggesting a localization of the secretory organelles of E. tenella. These results suggest that GRA proteins have a conserved function across species of Apicomplexa in targeting proteins to the PVs.