bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/475848; this version posted November 23, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-ND 4.0 International license. Cyclic GMP signaling in Toxoplasma gondii An unusual and physiologically vital protein with guanylate cyclase and P-type ATPase like domain in a pathogenic protist Özlem Günay-Esiyok1, Ulrike Scheib2, Matthias Noll1, Nishith Gupta1* 1 Institute of Biology, Department of Molecular Parasitology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany 2 Institute of Biology, Department of Experimental Biophysics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany Correspondence * Dr. Nishith Gupta
[email protected] Running title: Cyclic GMP signaling in Toxoplasma gondii ABSTRACT Cyclic GMP is considered as one of the master regulators of diverse functions in eukaryotes; its architecture and functioning in protozoans remain poorly understood however. We characterized an unusual and extra-large guanylate cyclase (477-kDa) containing at least 4 putative P-type ATPase motifs and 21 transmembrane helices in a common parasitic protist, Toxoplasma gondii. This protein, termed as TgATPaseP-GC due to its anticipated multi-functionality, localizes in the plasma membrane at the apical pole, while the corresponding cGMP-dependent protein kinase (TgPKG) is distributed in cytomembranes. Both proteins are expressed constitutively during the entire lytic cycle of the parasite in human cells, which suggests a post-translational control of cGMP signaling. Homology modeling indicated an activation of guanylate cyclase by heterodimerization of its two cyclase domains.