An essential malaria protein defines the architecture of blood-stage and transmission-stage parasites.
Blood-stage replication of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum occurs via schizogony, wherein daughter parasites are formed by a specialized cytokinesis known as segmentation. Here we identify a parasite protein, which we name P. falciparum Merozoite Organizing Protein (PfMOP), as essential for cytokinesis of blood-stage parasites. We show that, following PfMOP knockdown, parasites undergo incomplete segmentation resulting in a residual agglomerate of partially divided cells. While organelles develop normally, the structural scaffold of daughter parasites, the inner membrane complex (IMC), fails to form in this agglomerate causing flawed segmentation. In PfMOP-deficient gametocytes, the IMC formation defect causes maturation arrest with aberrant morphology and death. Our results provide insight into the mechanisms of replication and maturation of malaria parasites.
Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Sabrina
S
Absalon
Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Jonathan A
JA
Robbins
Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Jeffrey D
JD
Dvorin
D000818:Animals; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000097:blood / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D052940:Merozoites / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010271:Parasites / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D059008:Time-Lapse Imaging / Q000379:methods
C000628387:PfMOP protein, Plasmodium falciparum; D015800:Protozoan Proteins