title: Shared molecular strategies of the malaria parasite P. falciparum and the human virus HIV-1.
abstract: We augmented existing computationally predicted and experimentally determined interactions with evolutionarily conserved interactions between proteins of the malaria parasite, P. falciparum, and the human host. In a validation step, we found that conserved interacting host-parasite protein pairs were specifically expressed in host tissues where both the parasite and host proteins are known to be active. We compared host-parasite interactions with experimentally verified interactions between human host proteins and a very different pathogen, HIV-1. Both pathogens were found to use their protein repertoire in a combinatorial manner, providing a broad connection to host cellular processes. Specifically, the two biologically distinct pathogens predominately target central proteins to take control of a human host cell, effectively reaching into diversified cellular host cellular functions. Interacting signaling pathways and a small set of regulatory and signaling proteins were prime targets of both pathogens, suggesting remarkably similar patterns of host-pathogen interactions despite the vast biological differences of both pathogens. Such an identification of shared molecular strategies by the virus HIV-1 and the eukaryotic intracellular pathogen P. falciparum may allow us to illuminate new avenues of disease intervention.
authors.affiliation: National Center of Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. wuchtys@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wuchty
authors.forename: Geoffrey H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Siwo
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Ferdig
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D054298:Human Immunodeficiency Virus Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000378:metabolism*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D060066:Protein Interaction Maps; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D054298:Human Immunodeficiency Virus Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins