How forced cell entry affects pathogen digestion in phagosomes

Abstract

Many pathogens, including the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, enter host cells through an active penetration process that is fundamentally different from phagocytosis. When such pathogens infect host cells, they trigger cytoskeletal re-organization at the host-cell plasma membrane to generate physical forces that facilitate their internalization into the intracellular vacuoles. These pathogen-containing vacuoles do not have degradative capacity as normal phagosomes, so the internalized pathogens replicate freely inside for infection.