Stable expression of Cryptosporidium parvum glycoprotein gp40/15 in Toxoplasma gondii

Abstract Cryptosporidium is a cause of diarrheal disease worldwide. Parasite glycoproteins involved in invasion of Cryptosporidium into host cells have been investigated as possible targets for effective interventions against this parasite. One of these, Cp gp40/15, is expressed as a precursor protein that is cleaved by a parasite-derived furin-like protease activity into gp15, a glycophosphatidyl inositol anchored surface protein, and gp40, that associates with gp15 and binds to host cells. Investigation of the functions of these glycoproteins requires an expression system that can produce similar glycosylation patterns to the native antigens. Previous work demonstrated that Cp gp40/15 transiently expressed in Toxoplasma gondii was appropriately localized and glycosylated. In this study, T. gondii stable transfectants expressing gp40/15, gp15, gp40 and hemagglutinin (HA) tagged gp40 were generated. T. gondii recombinant gp40HA and gp40/15 (rec Tg gp40HA and rec Tg gp40/15) were isolated from infected cells by HA affinity chromatography and Helix pomatia lectin affinity chromatography, respectively. Mass spectrometry confirmed that rec Tg gp40-HA and native Cp gp40 were similarly glycosylated. Like native Cp gp40/15, rec Tg gp40/15 could be cleaved into the gp40 and gp15 products by human furin or by a furin-like protease activity in T. gondii tachyzoite lysates. However, processing was inefficient in intact tachyzoites. Unlike the N-terminus of native Cp gp40/15, which appears to be processed following signal peptide cleavage, the N-terminus of rec Tg gp40/15 began at the predicted signal sequence cleavage site, 11 amino acids upstream of the N-terminus of native Cp gp40. The ability to express and isolate appropriately glycosylated Cryptosporidium glycoproteins will enable further investigations into host–parasite interactions of this important pathogen.