Elucidation of erythrocyte invasion/infection mechanism by targetome analysis during Plasmodium merozoite formation

In this year, GFP-fused gene expression strains were constructed for AP2-Me and AP2-Mm, which are merozoite-specific transcription factors, and investigated their expression timing in detail. In addition, ChIP-seq analysis was performed to identify the recognition sequences and target genes of these transcription factors. Malaria parasites are organisms that can grow with only a very small number of sequence-specific transcription factors (approximately 30 AP2 family transcription factors (AP2-TF)) due to their parasitic nature. It has been previously demonstrated that several AP2-TFs are specifically expressed at certain cell stages and comprehensively regulate genes required at that stage. This result suggests that studying AP2-TF in the malaria parasite is an optimal tool to elucidate the gene regulation mechanism of the parasite. Three types of AP2-TF, AP2-Me, AP2-Mm, and AP2-Ml are expressed in a short period of time during merozoite formation. Conceivable. Therefore, this year’s results provide very useful information for understanding the formation mechanism of merozoites, which are the erythrocyte invasion stage of malaria parasites. In the future, the plan is to confirm the binding sequences in vitro, investigate their functions as cis-elements, and compare the three types of AP2-TF targetomes to clarify the mechanism of malaria merozoite formation.

Project details

Basic Science

Apr 2021 — Mar 2024

$36,840

Japan