Centrosomes and cell division in apicomplexa

Abstract

Apicomplexans are curious single-celled organisms. Belonging to the group of chromalveolates, life for an apicomplexan can be parasitic and some species can cause diseases such as malaria or toxoplasmosis. No apicomplexan is alike, although they share some common features such as being highly polar cells with unique apical organelles. They often change the cells of their metazoan hosts. When they move, apicomplexans do not crawl but glide; when they divide, apicomplexans go through mechanisms matched in cell biological bizarreness only by their names. They undergo schizogony or endodyogeny, processes that are usually not part of a regular molecular cell biology textbook; but they should, as their uniqueness might lead to insights into what proteins and processes are truly essential to make progeny. Here we highlight some of our current knowledge of centrosome and microtubule biology of selected apicomplexan parasites for the yeast and metazoan cell biologist to contemplate.