Recombinant Pfs230, a Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte protein, induces antisera that reduce the infectivity of Plasmodium falciparum to mosquitoes.
Six regions of malaria transmission-blocking target antigen, Pfs230, encoding 80% of the 363-kDa protein, were expressed as recombinant proteins in E. coli as fusions with maltose-binding protein (MBP). Antisera generated against amylose-purified recombinant Pfs230/MBP fusion proteins (r230/MBP.A-r230/MBP.F) all recognized the 360-kDa form of parasite-produced Pfs230 by immunoblot. However, only antisera against the four carboxy regions (C-F) of Pfs230 and not the two amino regions (A and B) recognized the 310-kDa form of Pfs230, the form expressed on the surface of gametes. The data suggest that the 310-kDa form of Pfs230 arises from the cleavage of 50 kDa from the amino terminus of the 360-kDa form. Furthermore, antisera against r230/MBP.C bound to the surface of intact gametes and significantly reduced (by 71.2-89.8% (rank sum analysis, P < 0.01)) the infectivity of P. falciparum parasites to mosquitoes. This is the first report of a recombinant form of a P. falciparum gametocyte protein capable of inducing antisera that reduce malaria parasite infectivity to mosquitoes.
Williamson
K C
KC
Biology Department, Loyola University, Chicago, IL 60626, USA.
Keister
D B
DB
Muratova
O
O
Kaslow
D C
DC
D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D009033:Culicidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D003545:Cysteine; D004926:Escherichia coli; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D058619:Maltose-Binding Proteins; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D058619:Maltose-Binding Proteins; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C461599:maltose transport system, E coli; D003545:Cysteine