The effects of glucose concentration on the reciprocal regulation of rRNA promoters in Plasmodium falciparum.
The developmental progression of Plasmodium falciparum is remarkably sensitive to glucose concentration. We have investigated the effects of glucose concentration on the parasite development cycle as reflected by changes of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transcription. We showed that glucose starvation differentially affects transcriptional control of the rRNA genes by sharply repressing transcription from those loci involved with asexual development of the parasite while up-regulating transcription at those loci involved with sexual development of the parasite. Temperature change also effects regulation of transcription. We found that the effects of temperature and glucose were synergistic. We identified and compared the upstream region of the transcription start sites of each gene. These putative promoter structures are considerably different from one another and contain structures remarkably similar to rRNA control elements in other organisms.
Section of Molecular Biology, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-0425, USA.
Jun
J
Fang
Margery
M
Sullivan
Thomas F
TF
McCutchan
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003080:Cold Temperature; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D005947:Glucose / Q000494:pharmacology; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects
D016053:RNA, Protozoan; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D005947:Glucose