Plasmodium yoelii inhibitor of cysteine proteases is exported to exomembrane structures and interacts with yoelipain-2 during asexual blood-stage development.

ABSTRACT: Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) blood stages express falstatin, an inhibitor of cysteine proteases (ICP), which is implicated in regulating proteolysis during red blood cell infection. Recent data using the Plasmodium berghei rodent malaria model suggested an additional role for ICP in the infection of hepatocytes by sporozoites and during liver-stage development. Here we further characterize the role of ICP in vivo during infection with Plasmodium yoelii (Py) and Pf. We found that Py-ICP was refractory to targeted gene deletion indicating an essential function during asexual blood-stage replication, but significant downregulation of ICP using a regulated system did not impact blood-stage growth. Py-ICP localized to vesicles within the asexual blood-stage parasite cytoplasm, as well as the para

SUBMITTER: Pei Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3907115 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature