Characterization of the ATG8-conjugation system in 2 Plasmodium species with special focus on the liver stage: possible linkage between the apicoplastic and autophagic systems?

ABSTRACT: Plasmodium parasites successfully colonize different habitats within mammals and mosquitoes, and adaptation to various environments is accompanied by changes in their organelle composition and size. Previously, we observed that during hepatocyte infection, Plasmodium discards organelles involved in invasion and expands those implicated in biosynthetic pathways. We hypothesized that this process is regulated by autophagy. Plasmodium spp. possess a rudimentary set of known autophagy-related proteins that includes the ortholog of yeast Atg8. In this study, we analyzed the activity of the ATG8-conjugation pathway over the course of the lifecycle of Plasmodium falciparum and during the liver stage of Plasmodium berghei. We engineered a transgenic P. falciparum strain expressing mCherry-PfATG8.

SUBMITTER: Jayabalasingham B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5396099 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature