Project description:In our global differential gene expression analyses,ETRAMP14.1, an ETRAMP family member was found to be highly transcribed in vivo in severe Malaria patients from highly endemic Indian region. This study for the first time reports the interaction of ETRAMP14.1 with PfEMP1, EXP2 and Hsp70-1. Therefore, we propose that ETRAMP14.1 facilitate PfEMP1 to cross the PVM via transcolon machinery component EXP2. Peripheral blood samples containing ring forms of the P.falciparum from mild and severe malaria patients were used for RNA extraction, CDNA synthesis and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. In vitro ring stage P.falciparum cultures were used for normalization.
Project description:In our global differential gene expression analyses,ETRAMP14.1, an ETRAMP family member was found to be highly transcribed in vivo in severe Malaria patients from highly endemic Indian region. This study for the first time reports the interaction of ETRAMP14.1 with PfEMP1, EXP2 and Hsp70-1. Therefore, we propose that ETRAMP14.1 facilitate PfEMP1 to cross the PVM via transcolon machinery component EXP2. Peripheral blood samples containing ring forms of the P.falciparum from mild and severe malaria patients were used for RNA extraction, CDNA synthesis and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. In vitro ring stage P.falciparum cultures were used for normalization.
Project description:The microarray experiments were carried out using a long oligonucleotide DNA microarray that represent all 5363 P. falciparum genes with one oligonucleotide per 1.9kb of coding sequence on average (Hu et al. 2007). Total 247 microarray experiments were carried out including 29-drug treatment time courses with 20 compounds and corresponding untreated controls from different drug or inhibitor treatment. Data of each drug/inhibitor experiment were normalized using a linear normalization and background filtering as implemented by the NOMAD database (http://derisilab.ucsf.edu). Time-series sampling and experiments with synchronized ex vivo culturing parasites. Each experiment has treatment and controls, and starts at a specific time of post invasion. For an example of quinine treatment, the treatments start from late ring stage through trophozoite stage of the parasites. First, IC50 is determined by drug assay with synchronized parasites (5% parasiteomia and 2% RBC). Second, synchronized parasite cultures are splitted into 12 flasks (75ml culture/flask) for a 6 time-point time-series experiment. 6 flasks are treated with quinine (final concentration is IC50) and 6 flasks are negative controls. 1,2,4,6,8 and 10 hrs after the treatment, parasites in each flask were harvested for total RNA isolation and microarray hybridizaiton.
Project description:The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum relies on clonally variant gene expression in order to escape immune recognition and secure continuous proliferation during blood stage infection. Here, we studied the role of heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1), an evolutionary conserved regulator of heritable gene silencing, in the biology of P. falciparum blood stage parasites. We demonstrate that conditional PfHP1 depletion de-represses hundreds of heterochromatic virulence genes and disrupts the elusive mechanism underlying mutually exclusive expression and antigenic variation of PfEMP1. Intriguingly, we also discovered that the PfHP1-dependent regulation of an ApiAP2 transcription factor controls the switch from asexual parasite proliferation to sexual differentiation. This uncovers the first mechanistic insight into the unknown pathway triggering gametocyte conversion and establishes a new concept of HP1-dependent cell fate decision in unicellular eukaryotes. P. falciparum 3D7 parasites expressing endogenous PfHP1-GFP-DD were grown in presence of 4nM WR/625nM Shield-1 (3D7/HP1ON) or 4nM WR (3D7/HP1OFF). RNA extracted from these samples at eleven consecutive time points each was processed for microarray analysis.
Project description:In order to study the role of chromatin remodeling in transcriptional regulation associated with the progression of the P. falciparum intraerythrocytic development cycle (IDC), we mapped the temporal pattern of chromosomal association with histone H3 and H4 modifications using chromatin-immunoprecipitation coupled to microarray (ChIP-on-chip). Genome-wide distribution of 13 histone modifications for 6 h time points of the 48 h P. falciparum IDC was done using ChIP-on-chip and compared to corresponding transcriptional profiles across the genome
Project description:Quantitative studies of the P. falciparum transcriptome have shown that the tightly controlled progression of the parasite through the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle (IDC) is accompanied by a continuous gene expression cascade where most expressed genes exhibit a single transcriptional peak. Since proteins represent the decisive business end of gene expression, understanding the correlation between mRNA and protein levels is crucial for inferring biological activity from transcriptional gene expression data. While pertinent studies on other organisms show that as little as 20-40% of protein abundance variation may be attributable to corresponding mRNA levels, the situation in Plasmodium is further complicated by the dynamic nature of the cyclic gene expression cascade where the mRNA levels of most genes change constantly during the IDC. In this study, we simultaneously determined mRNA and protein abundance profiles for P. falciparum parasites during the IDC at 2-hour resolution based on spotted oligonucleotide microarrays and 2D-protein gels in combination with DIGE fluorescent dyes. Intriguingly, most proteins are represented by more than one isoform, presumably due to post-translational modifications. Analysis of 366 protein abundance profiles and the corresponding mRNA levels shows that in 67.2% of cases the protein abundance peaks at least 8 hours after the mRNA level peak. While it may be tempting to interpret this as evidence for widespread post-transcriptional gene regulation additional analyses including computer modeling demonstrate that in >60% of these cases the observed protein profiles including the peak lag times could arise as a consequence of the corresponding mRNA levels when simple translation and degradation dynamics are assumed. We further characterize and illustrate these dynamics and show that even human host proteins within the parasite may be subject to similar dynamics as their parasite counterparts. 24 timepoint samples were harvested from a tightly synchronous 6.5 liter biofermenter culture of P. falciparum (Dd2) at 2-hour intervals during one entire intraerythrocytic developmental cycle and compared against a 3D7 RNA reference pool.
Project description:Artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria has emerged in western Cambodia. This is a major threat to global plans to control and eliminate malaria as the artemisinins are a key component of antimalarial treatment throughout the world. Using DNA microarrays we identify key features of a transcriptional profile that are associated with the delayed parasite clearance phenotype. These include reduced expression of several basic metabolic and cellular pathways in the early stages, and increased expression of essentially all functionalities associated with protein metabolism in the later stages of P. falciparum intraerythrocytic development. This is consistent with the reduced ring stage susceptibility that characterizes artemisinin resistant P. falciparum. This modulation of the P. falciparum intraerythrocytic transcriptome may result from differential expression of several regulatory proteins such as transcription factors of chromatin remodeling associated factors. In addition, the artemisinin resistant phenotype is strongly associated with a specific pattern of copy number variations, some of which are linked with differential expression of several regulatory proteins such as histone 4 and zinc permease. This study reports the first global transcriptional survey of artemisinin resistant parasites and provides a set of candidate genes for further investigation. 6 P. falciparum parasites (field isolates) which are either Artemsinin resistant or sensitive from 3 study sites (Pailin in Cambodia, Xepon in Laos, Mae Sot in Thailand) were sampled and harvested for genomic DNA. gDNA from a total of 6 samples were extracted by phenol chloroform. Synthesis of labelled target DNA was carried out as previously described: Mackinnon, M.J. et al. Comparative transcriptional and genomic analysis of Plasmodium falciparum field isolates. PLoS Pathog 5, e1000644 (2009), and used in comparative genomic microarray hybridizations (CGH).
Project description:Calcium is a universal second messenger molecule which plays a significant role in several biological processes. Presence of calcium sensors (calmodulins) and calcium-dependent protein kinases in Plasmodium species suggests an important role of calcium-dependent signaling pathways in the regulation of cellular processes in the malaria parasites. Evidence for the transcriptional response of Plasmodium falciparum asexual blood stages to the well-known calcium ionophore ionomycin has been presented here. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was carried out with total DNA isolated from the untreated parasites and the parasites treated with the calcium ionophores (ionomycin 5 μM concentration) at 1 hour, 4 hours and 6 hours post treatment. Genomic DNA from the isolates was extracted by phenol chloroform. 3 μg of the total DNA from each of the isolate was subjected to klenow(NEB) reaction as described in Bozdech Z, Llinas M, Pulliam BL, Wong ED, Zhu J, DeRisi JL: The transcriptome of the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle of Plasmodium falciparum. PLoS Biol 2003, 1(1):E5. Treated DNA labeled with Cy3 was then hybridized against untreated DNA labeled with Cy5.
Project description:Calcium is a universal second messenger molecule which plays a significant role in several biological processes. Presence of calcium sensors (calmodulins) and calcium-dependent protein kinases in Plasmodium species suggests an important role of calcium-dependent signaling pathways in the regulation of cellular processes in the malaria parasites. Evidence for the transcriptional response of Plasmodium falciparum asexual blood stages to the well-known calcium ionophore A23187 has been presented here. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was carried out with total DNA isolated from the untreated parasites and the parasites treated with the calcium ionophore (A23187 5 μM concentration) at 1 hour, 4 hours and 6 hours post treatment. Genomic DNA from the isolates was extracted by phenol chloroform. 3 μg of the total DNA from each of the isolate was subjected to klenow(NEB) reaction as described in Bozdech Z, Llinas M, Pulliam BL, Wong ED, Zhu J, DeRisi JL: The transcriptome of the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle of Plasmodium falciparum. PLoS Biol 2003, 1(1):E5. Treated DNA labeled with Cy3 was then hybridized against untreated DNA labeled with Cy5.
Project description:Background: Malaria is a one of the most important infectious diseases and is caused by parasitic protozoa of the genus Plasmodium. Previously, the quantitative characterization of the P. falciparum transcriptome demonstrated that the strictly controlled progression of these parasites through their intra-erythrocytic developmental cycle is accompanied by a continuous cascade of gene expression. Although such analyses have proven immensely useful, the precise correlations between transcript and protein abundance remain under-scrutinized. Results: Here, we present a quantitative time-course analysis of relative protein abundance for schizont-stage parasites (34-46 hours post-invasion) based on 2D-gel electrophoresis of protein samples labeled with DIGE fluorescent dyes. For this purpose we analyzed parasite samples taken at four-hour intervals from a tightly synchronized culture and established more than 500 individual protein abundance profiles with high temporal resolution and quantitative reproducibility. Approximately half of all profiles exhibit a significant change in abundance and 12% display an expression peak during the observed 12-hour time interval. Intriguingly, identification of 54 protein spots by mass spectrometry revealed that 58% of the corresponding proteins including actin-I, enolase, eIF4A, eIF5A, and several heat shock proteins are represented by more than one isoform, presumably due to post-translational modifications, with the various isoforms of a given protein frequently showing different expression patterns. Furthermore, comparisons with transcriptome data generated from the same parasite samples reveal significant post-transcriptional gene expression regulation. Conclusions: Together, our data indicate that both post-transcriptional and post-translational events are widespread and of presumably great biological significance during the intra-erythrocytic development of P. falciparum. Additional comment: In essence, the microarray data generated in this study is a repeat of the transcriptome analysis described in Bozdech et al., PLoS Biol 2003, 1(1):E5. Differences include (1) an improved set of oligonucleotides [see Hu et al., BMC Bioinformatics 2007, 8:350] used in the study associated with this GEO entry, and (2) the sampling at only four timepoints during the intra-erythrocytic development cycle (schizont stage) to match and complement the samples processed in the concomitant proteomics analysis. Four timepoint samples were harvested from a tightly synchronized 6 liter biofermenter culture of P. falciparum during schizont stage (at 34, 38, 42, and 46 hours post-invasion) and compared against a 3D7 RNA reference pool.