Toxoplasma gondii: redistribution of tachyzoite surface protein during host cell invasion and intracellular development.

Immunoperoxidase localisation of antigen at the electron microscope level confirms that parasite surface proteins, in association with membrane, are shed from the surface of the zoite on invasion, while varying amounts are also internalised. SAG 1 is stable on intracellular zoites for up to 48 h, although new protein is also synthesised. SAG1 is present on the surface of daughter zoites and is found throughout the infected cell in distinct vacuoles; these vacuoles represent either direct extensions of the parasitophorous vacuole or true export of parasite surface material. Conflicting reports exist concerning the presence of SAG1 on the developing intraphagosomal membrane (IPM) network immediately post-invasion (Sibley et al. 1986; Dubremetz et al. 1993). It is not known whether the molecule continues to be expressed during intracellular development. The current study follows the fate of SAG1 during invasion and over the first 48 h of parasite multiplication within the host cell, using pre- and postinvasion labeling techniques at the electron microscope level.