IMC29 Plays an Important Role in <i>Toxoplasma</i> Endodyogeny and Reveals New Components of the Daughter-Enriched IMC Proteome
P. Back, Andy S. Moon, Rebecca R. Pasquarelli, Hannah N. Bell, Juan A. Torres, Allan L. Chen, Jihui Sha, Ajay A. Vashisht, James A. Wohlschlegel, Peter J. Bradley
Abstract
The inner membrane complex (IMC) is a conserved structure across the Apicomplexa phylum, which includes obligate intracellular parasites that cause toxoplasmosis, malaria, and cryptosporidiosis. The IMC is critical for the parasite to maintain its intracellular lifestyle, particularly in providing a scaffold for daughter bud formation during parasite replication. While many IMC proteins in the later stages of division have been identified, components of the early stages of division remain unknown. Here, we focus on the early daughter protein IMC29, demonstrating that it is crucial for faithful parasite replication and identifying specific regions of the protein that are important for its localization and function. We additionally use proximity labeling to reveal a suite of daughter-enriched IMC proteins, which represent promising candidates to further explore this IMC subcompartment.