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Updated: Dec 23, 2025

A Genetic Screen to Isolate Toxoplasma gondii Host-cell Egress Mutants
Published on: February 8, 2012
Endocytosis in Plasmodium and Toxoplasma Parasites
Tobias Spielmann1, Simon Gras2, Ricarda Sabitzki1
1Department of Molecular Biology and Immunology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract:
Endocytosis is critical for many functions in eukaryotic cells. Uptake of host cell cytosol, an indispensable endocytic process in malaria blood-stage parasites, has been known for a long time. However, it is only recently that the proteins involved in this process have started to emerge. Unexpectedly, some of these proteins revealed a critical role for endocytosis in artemisinin resistance. More recently, endocytosis was discovered in both intracellular and extracellular Toxoplasma gondii parasites. Here, we review these findings, compare the endolysosomal systems of Toxoplasma and Plasmodium parasites, and present current knowledge about endocytic mechanisms in apicomplexans.
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