Abstract
The contribution of amylopectin granules (AG), comprised of a branched chain storage homopolymer of glucose, to the maintenance and progression of the chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection has remained undefined. Here we describe the role of AG in the physiology of encysted bradyzoites by using a custom developed imaging-based application AmyloQuant that permitted quantification of relative levels of AG within in vivo derived tissue cysts during the initiation and maturation of the chronic infection. Our findings establish that AG are dynamic entities, exhibiting considerable heterogeneity among tissue cysts at all post infection time points examined. Quantification of relative AG levels within tissue cysts exposes a previously unrecognized temporal cycle defined by distinct phases of AG accumulation and utilization over the first 6 weeks of the chronic phase. This AG cycle is temporally coordinated with overall bradyzoite mitochondrial activity implicating amylopectin in the maintenance and progression of the chronic infection. In addition, the staging of AG accumulation and its rapid utilization within encysted bradyzoites was associated with a burst of coordinated replication. As such our findings suggest that AG levels within individual bradyzoites, and across bradyzoites within tissue cysts may represent a key component in the licensing of bradyzoite replication, intimately linking stored metabolic potential to the course of the chronic infection. This extends the impact of AG beyond the previously assigned role that focused exclusively on parasite transmission. These findings force a fundamental reassessment of the chronic Toxoplasma infection, highlighting the critical need to address the temporal progression of this crucial stage in the parasite life cycle.