Transcriptional silencing and activation of paternal DNA during Plasmodium berghei zygotic development and transformation to oocyst.

ABSTRACT: The malaria parasite develops sexually in the mosquito midgut upon entry with the ingested blood meal before it can invade the midgut epithelium and embark on sporogony. Recent data have identified a number of distinct transcriptional programmes operating during this critical phase of the parasite life cycle. We aimed at characterizing the parental contribution to these transcriptional programmes and establish the genetic framework that would guide further studies of Plasmodium zygotic development and ookinete-to-oocyst transition. To achieve this we used in vitro and in vivo cross-fertilization experiments of various parasite lines expressing fluorescent reporters under the control of constitutive and stage-specific promoters. The results revealed that the zygote/ookinete stage exhibits a

SUBMITTER: Ukegbu CV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4678591 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature