Atypical mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase implicated in regulating transition from pre-S-Phase asexual intraerythrocytic development of Plasmodium falciparum.

Balu, B. et al. (2013) Atypical mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase implicated in regulating transition from pre-S-Phase asexual intraerythrocytic development of Plasmodium falciparum. Eukaryotic cell, 12(9), pp. 1171-8. (doi: 10.1128/EC.00028-13) (PMID:23813392) (PMCID:PMC3811562)

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Abstract

Intraerythrocytic development of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum appears as a continuous flow through growth and proliferation. To develop a greater understanding of the critical regulatory events, we utilized piggyBac insertional mutagenesis to randomly disrupt genes. Screening a collection of piggyBac mutants for slow growth, we isolated the attenuated parasite C9, which carried a single insertion disrupting the open reading frame (ORF) of PF3D7_1305500. This gene encodes a protein structurally similar to a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatase, except for two notable characteristics that alter the signature motif of the dual-specificity phosphatase domain, suggesting that it may be a low-activity phosphatase or pseudophosphatase. C9 parasites demonstrated a significantly lower growth rate with delayed entry into the S/M phase of the cell cycle, which follows the stage of maximum PF3D7_1305500 expression in intact parasites. Genetic complementation with the full-length PF3D7_1305500 rescued the wild-type phenotype of C9, validating the importance of the putative protein phosphatase PF3D7_1305500 as a regulator of pre-S-phase cell cycle progression in P. falciparum.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Otto, Professor Thomas
Authors: Balu, B., Campbell, C., Sedillo, J., Maher, S., Singh, N., Thomas, P., Zhang, M., Pance, A., Otto, T. D., Rayner, J. C., and Adams, J. H.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
Journal Name:Eukaryotic cell
Publisher:American Society for Microbiology
ISSN:1535-9778
ISSN (Online):1535-9786

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