{"doi":"10.7554/elife.63417","title":"Calcium signaling through a transient receptor channel is important for Toxoplasma gondii growth","abstract":"Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels participate in calcium ion (Ca 2+ ) influx and intracellular Ca 2+ release. TRP channels have not been studied in Toxoplasma gondii or any other apicomplexan parasite. In this work, we characterize TgGT1_310560, a protein predicted to possess a TRP domain (TgTRPPL-2), and determined its role in Ca 2+ signaling in T. gondii , the causative agent of toxoplasmosis. TgTRPPL-2 localizes to the plasma membrane and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of T. gondii . The ΔTgTRPPL-2 mutant was defective in growth and cytosolic Ca 2+ influx from both extracellular and intracellular sources. Heterologous expression of TgTRPPL-2 in HEK-3KO cells allowed its functional characterization. Patching of ER-nuclear membranes demonstrates that TgTRPPL-2 is a non-selective cation channel that conducts Ca 2+ . Pharmacological blockers of TgTRPPL-2 inhibit Ca 2+ influx and parasite growth. This is the first report of an apicomplexan ion channel that conducts Ca 2+ and may initiate a Ca 2+ signaling cascade that leads to the stimulation of motility, invasion, and egress. TgTRPPL-2 is a potential target for combating toxoplasmosis.","journal":"eLife","year":2021,"id":166271,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":34,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9604,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":573821,"name":"Miryam Andrea Hortua Triana","orcid":"0000-0001-5964-8512","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":502526,"name":"Nathan Michael Chasen","orcid":"0000-0003-3346-9780","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":584716,"name":"Ivana Y. Kuo","orcid":"0000-0002-9867-2408","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":480891,"name":"Silvia N.J. Moreno","orcid":"0000-0002-2041-6295","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":584715,"name":"Karla M. Márquez‐Nogueras","orcid":"0000-0002-9459-6882","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":80,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:45:45.220559Z","pmid":"34106044","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}