Mechanisms by which 3'-phosphorylated phosphoinositides (3'-PIPs) regulate the development of apicomplexan parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii are poorly understood. The catabolic process of autophagy, which is dependent on autophagy-related proteins (ATGs), is one of the major targets of 3'-PIPs in yeast and mammals. In the present study, we identified autophagy-related prote...

The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that can infect any warm blooded animal,' as well as reptiles and fish,2' and shows a high incidence in humans, with approximately 500 million people throughout the world having antibodies to Tgondii.5 The organism is ubiquitous in nature and produces one of the most common infections ofhumans.' It is the most common cause of...

Our knowledge of cell cycle regulatory mechanisms in apicomplexan parasites is very limited. In this study, we describe a novel Toxoplasma gondii factor that has a vital role in chromosome replication and the regulation of cytoplasmic and nuclear mitotic structures, and we named this factor ECR1 for essential for chromosome replication 1. ECR1 was discovered by complementation of a temperature-...