A new study co-led by our Ambizione fellow Gaëlle Lentini characterized rhoptry discharge factor 3 as an essential factor for invasion and microtubule-associated vesicle biogenesis in Toxoplasma gondii . This study was recently published in PLoS Biology.
In Toxoplasma gondii, the intracellular parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, rhoptries are essential organelles for invading host cells. This latest publication focuses on RDF3, a protein vital for the parasite's invasion process. RDF3 is required for the proper formation of microtubule-associated vesicles (MVs), which supply the rhoptries during repeated invasion cycles. Depletion of RDF3 disrupts these processes, highlighting its critical role in parasite virulence. Understanding the function of RDF3 could inform strategies to treat T. gondii and related parasite infections.

Figure Legend: Focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy-based three-dimensional reconstruction of a rosette composed of 16 Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites in a parasitophorous vacuole. Grey, nucleus; green, apicoplast; blue, parasite plasma membrane; black, conoid; yellow rhoptry bulb; red rhoptry neck. ©Bohumil MACO/UNIGE