Histone H2A.X contributes to Gene Expression Regulation and Cell-Cycle Progression in Toxoplasma gondii Tachyzoites
- 1CONICET La Plata
Abstract
Histone H2A.X is a conserved variant classically associated with the DNA damage response (DDR), where its phosphorylation ({gamma}H2A.X) marks double-strand breaks and recruits repair factors. H2A.X is absent in many parasitic protozoans such as Plasmodium, Trypanosoma and Leishmania. In Toxoplasma gondii, the obligate intracellular parasite, causative agent of toxoplasmosis, however, its presence raises the question of whether it contributes to genome stability. To tackle this, we generated a T. gondii knockout of H2A.X (RH{Delta}H2A.X) and evaluated its phenotype. Although H2A.X is phosphorylated in response to DNA damage in T. gondii as in other systems, RH{Delta}H2A.X parasites showed no increased sensitivity to genotoxic agents, indicating that H2A.X is dispensable for canonical DDR. Instead, loss of H2A.X caused reduced gliding motility, increased host cell invasion and clustering of extracellular parasites after egress. Despite no defects in replication rate, RH{Delta}H2A.X showed delayed mitotic progression with abnormal vacuole morphology. Transcriptomic profiling revealed a moderate yet coordinated reprogramming of protein-coding genes. Specifically, H2A.X loss altered the expression of key apical secretory and virulence factors, especially ROP18, while inducing the transcriptional activation of mitotic and DNA replication machinery. Differential enrichment analysis further revealed that upregulated genes were preferentially associated with S phase, whereas downregulated genes were enriched during mitosis and cytokinesis. This is consistent with the delayed mitotic progression and spindle abnormalities observed by microscopy and flow cytometry and suggests a cell cycle phase-specific mechanism of H2A.X-dependent transcriptional control. Rather than a driver of DDR, these findings suggest that T. gondii H2A.X operates as a chromatin organizer that coordinates cell division fidelity and virulence gene expression.
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BibTeX
@misc{cristaldi2026histone,
title = {{Histone H2A.X contributes to Gene Expression Regulation and Cell-Cycle Progression in Toxoplasma gondii Tachyzoites}},
author = {C. Cristaldi and S. Horjales and L. Gualano and A. Ganuza and A. A. Aparicio Arias and L. D. de Barros and W. J. Sullivan and A. M. Alonso and S. O. Angel and M. E. Francia and L. Vanagas},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.08.757790},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.08.757790v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Histone H2A.X contributes to Gene Expression Regulation and Cell-Cycle Progression in Toxoplasma gondii Tachyzoites
AU - C. Cristaldi
AU - S. Horjales
AU - L. Gualano
AU - A. Ganuza
AU - A. A. Aparicio Arias
AU - L. D. de Barros
AU - W. J. Sullivan
AU - A. M. Alonso
AU - S. O. Angel
AU - M. E. Francia
AU - L. Vanagas
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.08.757790
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.08.757790v1
AB - Histone H2A.X is a conserved variant classically associated with the DNA damage response (DDR), where its phosphorylation ({gamma}H2A.X) marks double-strand breaks and recruits repair factors. H2A.X is absent in many parasitic protozoans such as Plasmodium, Trypanosoma and Leishmania. In Toxoplasma gondii, the obligate intracellular parasite, causative agent of toxoplasmosis, however, its presence raises the question of whether it contributes to genome stability. To tackle this, we generated a T. gondii knockout of H2A.X (RH{Delta}H2A.X) and evaluated its phenotype. Although H2A.X is phosphorylated in response to DNA damage in T. gondii as in other systems, RH{Delta}H2A.X parasites showed no increased sensitivity to genotoxic agents, indicating that H2A.X is dispensable for canonical DDR. Instead, loss of H2A.X caused reduced gliding motility, increased host cell invasion and clustering of extracellular parasites after egress. Despite no defects in replication rate, RH{Delta}H2A.X showed delayed mitotic progression with abnormal vacuole morphology. Transcriptomic profiling revealed a moderate yet coordinated reprogramming of protein-coding genes. Specifically, H2A.X loss altered the expression of key apical secretory and virulence factors, especially ROP18, while inducing the transcriptional activation of mitotic and DNA replication machinery. Differential enrichment analysis further revealed that upregulated genes were preferentially associated with S phase, whereas downregulated genes were enriched during mitosis and cytokinesis. This is consistent with the delayed mitotic progression and spindle abnormalities observed by microscopy and flow cytometry and suggests a cell cycle phase-specific mechanism of H2A.X-dependent transcriptional control. Rather than a driver of DDR, these findings suggest that T. gondii H2A.X operates as a chromatin organizer that coordinates cell division fidelity and virulence gene expression.
ER -