Nutrient Acquisition and Attachment Strategies in Basal Lineages: A Tough Nut to Crack in the Evolutionary Puzzle of Apicomplexa

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Authors

BARDŮNEK VALIGUROVÁ Andrea FLORENT Isabelle

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Microorganisms
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9071430
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9071430
Keywords apical complex; attachment; epimerite; feeder organelle; mucron; myzocytosis; nutrition; parasitophorous vacuole/sac; pores; trophozoite
Description Apicomplexa are unicellular eukaryotes that parasitise a wide spectrum of invertebrates and vertebrates, including humans. In their hosts, they occupy a variety of niches, from extracellular cavities (intestine, coelom) to epicellular and intracellular locations, depending on the species and/or developmental stages. During their evolution, Apicomplexa thus developed an exceptionally wide range of unique features to reach these diversified parasitic niches and to survive there, at least long enough to ensure their own transmission or that of their progeny. This review summarises the current state of knowledge on the attachment/invasive and nutrient uptake strategies displayed by apicomplexan parasites, focusing on trophozoite stages of their so far poorly studied basal representatives, which mostly parasitise invertebrate hosts. We describe their most important morphofunctional features, and where applicable, discuss existing major similarities and/or differences in the corresponding mechanisms, incomparably better described at the molecular level in the more advanced Apicomplexa species, of medical and veterinary significance, which mainly occupy intracellular niches in vertebrate hosts.
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