Toxoplasma, or the discovery of a heterophage

In mammalian cells, the protozoan pathogen Toxoplasma resides in a nonfusiogenic vacuole that segregates it from host cell resources. How the parasite acquires nutrients and whether it is capable of internalizing host macromolecules have been long-standing mysteries. By exploiting a mutant of Toxoplasma lacking the cathepsin protease L, Dou et al observed the accumulation of host cytosolic-derived proteins in a multivesicular post-Golgi compartment, which establishes the existence of a functional heterophagic pathway in Toxoplasma.