title: Genetic and transcriptional analysis of phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C in Plasmodium.
abstract: Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) is a major regulator of calcium-dependent signal transduction, which has been shown to be important in various processes of the malaria parasite Plasmodium. PI-PLC is generally implicated in calcium liberation from intracellular stores through the action of its product, inositol-(1,4,5)-trisphosphate, and is itself dependent on calcium for its activation. Here we describe the plc genes from Plasmodium species. The encoded proteins contain all domains typically found in PI-PLCs of the δ class but are almost twice as long as their orthologues in mammals. Transcriptional analysis by qRT-PCR of plc during the erythrocytic cycle of P. falciparum revealed steady expression levels that increased at the late schizont stages. Genetic analysis in the P. berghei model revealed that the plc locus was targetable but that plc gene knock-outs could not be obtained, thereby strongly indicating that the gene is essential during blood stage development. Alternatively, we attempted to modify plc expression through a promoter exchange approach but found the gene to be refractory to over-expression indicating that plc expression levels might additionally be tightly controlled.
authors.affiliation: UMR5235, CNRS-Université Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raabe
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.forename: Lauriane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sollelis
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cerdan
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tawk
authors.forename: Henri J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Vial
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Billker
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wengelnik
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D054801:Phosphoinositide Phospholipase C / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D054801:Phosphoinositide Phospholipase C