Phosphatidylinositol synthesis, its selective salvage, and inter-regulation of anionic phospholipids in Toxoplasma gondii

Abstract

Ren et al. investigated how the obligate intracellular pathogen Toxoplasma gondii satisfies its requirement of phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns). They show that this parasite can synthesize certain PtdIns species de novo and salvages others from human host cells. Endogenous production of PtdIns in the Golgi complex is critical for the acute infection, and its loss perturbs homeostasis of selected anionic phospholipids.