Metabolic interactions between Toxoplasma gondii and its host

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa that infects all warm-blooded animals, including humans. T. gondii can replicate in every nucleated host cell by orchestrating metabolic interactions to derive crucial nutrients. In this review, we summarize the current status of known metabolic interactions of T. gondii with its host cell and discuss open questions and promising experimental approaches that will allow further dissection of the host–parasite interface and discovery of ways to efficiently target both tachyzoite and bradyzoite forms of T. gondii, which are associated with acute and chronic infection, respectively.