Mitochondria hoard folate to starve a parasite

Anu Suomalainen^{1

2

3}, Joni Nikkanen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Stem Cells and Metabolism Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
² Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Diagnostic Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Comment

Anu Suomalainen et al. Science. 2025.

. 2025 Aug 14;389(6761):685-686.

doi: 10.1126/science.aea0875. Epub 2025 Aug 14.

Anu Suomalainen^{1

2

3}, Joni Nikkanen⁴

¹ Stem Cells and Metabolism Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
² Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Diagnostic Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Abstract

Metabolic immunity contributes to cells' defenses against Toxoplasma gondii.

Mitochondria protect against an intracellular pathogen by restricting access to folate.
Medeiros TC, Ovciarikova J, Li X, Krueger P, Bartsch T, Reato S, Crow JC, Tellez Sutterlin M, Martins Garcia B, Rais I, Allmeroth K, Hartman MD, Denzel MS, Purrio M, Mesaros A, Leung KY, Greene NDE, Sheiner L, Giavalisco P, Pernas L. Medeiros TC, et al. Science. 2025 Aug 14;389(6761):eadr6326. doi: 10.1126/science.adr6326. Epub 2025 Aug 14. Science. 2025. PMID: 40811546