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Multi-membrane-bound structures of Apicomplexa: II. the ovoid mitochondrial cytoplasmic (OMC) complex of Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites

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Abstract

Apicomplexa including the causative agents of toxoplasmosis and malaria reportedly possess one or few tubular-shaped mitochondria that permeate, more or less branched, throughout these unicellular parasites. Electron micrographs generated herein from serial-sectioned Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites demonstrated, however, a greater diversity regarding both the shape of the cultured parasite’s single mitochondrion and its sub-structural organization. Moreover, a unique subcellular construction was detected that basically comprised a pouch-shaped subdivision of the tachyzoite mitochondrion plus a fraction of parasitic cytoplasm enclosed therein. This composite assembling, termed ovoid mitochondrial cytoplasmic (OMC) complex, characteristically displayed a highly reduced matrix lumen of its mitochondrial border construction, which furthermore often failed to possess any cristae or contained tightly pleated cristae, thus creating a pouch-shaped multi-laminar wall of four or more membranous layers, respectively. Given this architecture, cross-sectioned OMC complexes of T. gondii tachyzoites frequently mimicked in size and shape the parasites’ plastid-like organelle (apicoplast). Moreover, like the apicoplast, the OMC complex was often found adjacent to the tachyzoite’s single Golgi complex and constantly located in close proximity to the outer membrane of the parasite’s nuclear envelope. The T. gondii OMC complex differed, however, from the apicoplast in its exact fine structural organization and a stage-restricted presence that was apparently linked to mitochondrial growth and/or division. Any special function(s) possibly performed by the T. gondii OMC complex remains, nevertheless, to be elucidated.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks John Boothroyd and Heinz Mehlhorn for critical reading of the manuscript and helpful discussion. We also thank Inge Latka for the technical assistance. This paper was supported by the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Ko1871/1-1).

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  1. Institute for Zoomorphology, Cell Biology and Parasitology, Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Sabine Köhler

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Köhler, S. Multi-membrane-bound structures of Apicomplexa: II. the ovoid mitochondrial cytoplasmic (OMC) complex of Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites. Parasitol Res 98, 355–369 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-005-0066-y

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