Are there specific soluble compounds that attract Toxoplasma, Plasmodium, or any of the other Apicomplexa? That is, are any of the Apicomplexa demonstrably chemotactic? Host cells infected by these organisms are known to secrete cytokines that attract other host cells; that's not what I'm looking for, and it makes a literature search difficult.
Although not in the vertebrate host - Malaria sporozoites emerging from oocysts on the midgut of the mosquito vector, are attracted to the salivary glands via a heat labile component. see:
Akaki & Dvorak 2005. A chemotactic response facilitates mosquito salivary gland infection by malaria sporozoites. J Exp Biol. Aug;208(Pt 16):3211-8.
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I human, I have not yet come across any chemotactism involving apicomplexa. but in mosquitoes, the example described by Akaki & Dvorak is quite illustrating.
Hello! I'm not familiar with chemoattraction mechanisms being described. However Plasmodium has been shown to have 'tropism' to certain tissues by iRBC interacting with CD36 receptor in these tissues.
Check: Mota, M. M., et al. (2000). "Plasmodium chabaudi-infected erythrocytes adhere to CD36 and bind to microvascular endothelial cells in an organ-specific way." Infect Immun 68(7): 4135-4144.
Good luck!
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