Screening the MMV Pathogen Box reveals the mitochondrial bc1-complex as a drug target in mature Toxoplasma gondii bradyzoites.

The apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii infects 25-30% of the global human population and can cause life-threatening diseases in immunocompromised patients. The chronically infectious forms of the parasite, bradyzoites, persist within cysts in brain and muscle tissue, and are responsible for its transmission and remission of the disease. Currently available treatment options are very limited and are only effective against the fast-replicating tachyzoites, but fail to eradicate the chronic stages of T. gondii. The cause of these treatment failures remains unclear. Here, we utilized our recently developed human myotube-based culture model to screen compounds from the MMV Pathogen Box against pan-resistant in vitro bradyzoites, and identified multiple compounds with simultaneous activity against tachyzoites and bradyzoites. Stable isotope-resolved metabolic profiling on tachyzoites and bradyzoites identified the mitochondrial bc1-complex as a target of bradyzocidal compounds and defined their metabolic impacts on both parasite forms. Our data suggest that mature bradyzoites rely on mitochondrial ATP production.