Structural basis of Toxoplasma gondii perforin-like protein 1 membrane interaction and activity during egress

Intracellular pathogens must egress from the host cell to continue their infectious cycle. Apicomplexans are a phylum of intracellular protozoans that have evolved members of the membrane attack complex and perforin (MACPF) family of pore forming proteins to disrupt cellular membranes for traversing cells during tissue migration or egress from a replicative vacuole following intracellular reproduction. Previous work showed that the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii secretes a perforin-like protein (TgPLP1) that contains a C-terminal Domain (CTD) which is necessary for efficient parasite egress. However, the structural basis for CTD membrane binding and egress competency remained unknown. Here, we present evidence that TgPLP1 CTD prefers binding lipids that are abundant in the inner leaflet of the lipid bilayer. Additionally, solving the high-resolution crystal structure of the TgPLP1 APCβ domain within the CTD reveals an unusual double-layered β-prism fold that resembles only one other protein of known structure. Three direct repeat sequences comprise subdomains, with each constituting a wall of the β-prism fold. One subdomain features a protruding hydrophobic loop with an exposed tryptophan at its tip. Spectrophotometric measurements of intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence are consistent with insertion of the hydrophobic loop into a target membrane. Using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing we show that parasite strains bearing mutations in the hydrophobic loop, including alanine substitution of the tip tryptophan, are equally deficient in egress as a strain lacking TgPLP1 altogether. Taken together our findings suggest a crucial role for the hydrophobic loop in anchoring TgPLP1 to the membrane to support its cytolytic activity and egress function.

1 Overall quality at a glance i O The following experimental techniques were used to determine the structure:

X-RAY DIFFRACTION
The reported resolution of this entry is 1.13 Å.
Percentile scores (ranging between 0-100) for global validation metrics of the entry are shown in the following graphic. The table shows the number of entries on which the scores are based.

Metric
Whole archive (#Entries) Similar resolution (#Entries, resolution range(Å)) R The table below summarises the geometric issues observed across the polymeric chains and their t to the electron density. The red, orange, yellow and green segments on the lower bar indicate the fraction of residues that contain outliers for >=3, 2, 1 and 0 types of geometric quality criteria. A grey segment represents the fraction of residues that are not modelled. The numeric value for each fraction is indicated below the corresponding segment, with a dot representing fractions <=5% The upper red bar (where present) indicates the fraction of residues that have poor t to the electron density. The numeric value is given above the bar.
Mol Chain Length Quality of chain In the tables below, the ZeroOcc column contains the number of atoms modelled with zero occupancy, the AltConf column contains the number of residues with at least one atom in alternate conformation and the Trace column contains the number of residues modelled with at most 2 atoms.
Molecule 1 is a protein called Perforin-like protein 1. 3 Residue-property plots i O These plots are drawn for all protein, RNA and DNA chains in the entry. The rst graphic for a chain summarises the proportions of the various outlier classes displayed in the second graphic. The second graphic shows the sequence view annotated by issues in geometryand electron density. Residues are color-coded according to the number of geometric quality criteria for which they contain at least one outlier: green = 0, yellow = 1, orange = 2 and red = 3 or more. A red dot above a residue indicates a poor t to the electron density (RSRZ > 2). Stretches of 2 or more consecutive residues without any outlier are shown as a green connector. Residues present in the sample, but not in the model, are shown in grey.

Mol Chain Residues
• Molecule 1: Perforin-like protein 1 Chain A: Xtriage's analysis on translational NCS is as follows: The analyses of the Patterson function reveals a signicant o-origin peak that is 27.66 % of the origin peak, indicating pseudo-translational symmetry. The chance of nding a peak of this or larger height randomly in a structure without pseudo-translational symmetry is equal to 2.1148e-03. The detected translational NCS is most likely also responsible for the elevated intensity ratio. There are no bond angle outliers.
There are no chirality outliers.
There are no planarity outliers. The all-atom clashscore is dened as the number of clashes found per 1000 atoms (including hydrogen atoms). The all-atom clashscore for this structure is 2.
All (14)  In the following table, the Percentiles column shows the percent Ramachandran outliers of the chain as a percentile score with respect to all X-ray entries followed by that with respect to entries of similar resolution.
The Analysed column shows the number of residues for which the backbone conformation was analysed, and the total number of residues. There are no Ramachandran outliers to report.

Protein sidechains i O
In the following table, the Percentiles column shows the percent sidechain outliers of the chain as a percentile score with respect to all X-ray entries followed by that with respect to entries of similar 6D7A resolution.
The Analysed column shows the number of residues for which the sidechain conformation was analysed, and the total number of residues. There are no bond length outliers.

Mol Chain Analysed Rotameric Outliers Percentiles
There are no bond angle outliers.
There are no chirality outliers.
There are no torsion outliers.
There are no ring outliers.
No monomer is involved in short contacts.