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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Nature Communications

A dedicated partitioning machinery ensures faithful inheritance of the apicoplast in Toxoplasma gondii

  • Garret C. Eichlin
  • Prince Oppong
  • Hallie R. Hayne
  • Pamodya Pamunuwa
  • Benjamin Chartier
  • Eranthie Weerapana
  • Marc-Jan Gubbels
  • Klemens Engelberg
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Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites divide by endodyogeny, an internal budding process that requires precise machinery for equal partitioning of single-copy organelles into daughter cells. The essential apicoplast is partitioned by temporal association with the centrosome, which is orchestrating various cell division processes. However, the identity of the molecular infrastructure facilitating anchoring of the apicoplast to the centrosome is still unknown. Here, we describe the apicoplast partitioning protein 1 (APP1), which first assembles in a specific basal complex (BC) section and then localizes in close proximity to the apicoplast. Conditional APP1 knockdown results in a specific apicoplast partitioning defect. Reciprocally, upon apicoplast loss through ATG8-depletion, APP1 remains associated with the cytoskeleton, consolidating a role in apicoplast anchoring to the cell division infrastructure. Using APP1 as bait in a proximity biotinylation screen, we identify APP3, which positions APP1 to the specific site on the BC, but has overall a more pleiotropic role in coordinating cell division. In summary, APPs are functional connectors between the apicoplast and the daughter cell scaffold (DCS) critical for apicoplast inheritance. Together our findings provide novel mechanistic insights into this unique aspect of apicomplexan organelle biology.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{eichlin2026dedicated,
  title = {{A dedicated partitioning machinery ensures faithful inheritance of the apicoplast in Toxoplasma gondii}},
  author = {Garret C. Eichlin and Prince Oppong and Hallie R. Hayne and Pamodya Pamunuwa and Benjamin Chartier and Eranthie Weerapana and Marc-Jan Gubbels and Klemens Engelberg},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78103-w},
  url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78103-w},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - A dedicated partitioning machinery ensures faithful inheritance of the apicoplast in Toxoplasma gondii
AU  - Garret C. Eichlin
AU  - Prince Oppong
AU  - Hallie R. Hayne
AU  - Pamodya Pamunuwa
AU  - Benjamin Chartier
AU  - Eranthie Weerapana
AU  - Marc-Jan Gubbels
AU  - Klemens Engelberg
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/05
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-78103-w
UR  - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78103-w
AB  - Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites divide by endodyogeny, an internal budding process that requires precise machinery for equal partitioning of single-copy organelles into daughter cells. The essential apicoplast is partitioned by temporal association with the centrosome, which is orchestrating various cell division processes. However, the identity of the molecular infrastructure facilitating anchoring of the apicoplast to the centrosome is still unknown. Here, we describe the apicoplast partitioning protein 1 (APP1), which first assembles in a specific basal complex (BC) section and then localizes in close proximity to the apicoplast. Conditional APP1 knockdown results in a specific apicoplast partitioning defect. Reciprocally, upon apicoplast loss through ATG8-depletion, APP1 remains associated with the cytoskeleton, consolidating a role in apicoplast anchoring to the cell division infrastructure. Using APP1 as bait in a proximity biotinylation screen, we identify APP3, which positions APP1 to the specific site on the BC, but has overall a more pleiotropic role in coordinating cell division. In summary, APPs are functional connectors between the apicoplast and the daughter cell scaffold (DCS) critical for apicoplast inheritance. Together our findings provide novel mechanistic insights into this unique aspect of apicomplexan organelle biology.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -