The mitochondria – microbe conflict

Mitochondria, essentially domesticated microbes in our cells, play a defensive role during microbial infection. In previous work, we showed that mitochondria can compete with the human parasite Toxoplasma gondii for fatty acids, thereby restricting its growth. Here, we further investigated the metabolic conflict between mitochondria and Toxoplasma. We report a novel structure we term SPOT - structure positive for outer mitochondrial membrane - that emerges from the outer mitochondrial membrane due to mitochondrial import stress caused by the Toxoplasma.