Researchers from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have made a surprising discovery about how certain parasites coordinate their movement to invade host cells. The team, led by Dr. Elena Jimenez-Ruiz, found that in Toxoplasma gondii (the parasite causing toxoplasmosis), two lysine methyltransferases work in sequence to trigger motility. The first enzyme, PCKMT, positions an actin nucleator (Formin-1) at the parasite’s tip, initiating local actin assembly and protrusion of a specialized structure (the conoid) needed for invasion. A second enzyme, AKMT, then helps reorganize the actin network to couple it to force generation. What’s particularly intriguing is that this methylation process occurs directly at the motility machinery, not in the nucleus where it’s typically studied. The team also found a related enzyme (PfSET9) in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, showing that this regulatory mechanism may be widespread among apicomplexan parasites. The findings could pave the way for new drug targets: compounds that block these parasite-specific methyltransferases might disrupt invasion without affecting similar enzymes in human cells. The study was published in Nature Communications.
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