An essential contractile ring protein controls cell division in Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: During the blood stage of human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum parasites divide by schizogony-a process wherein components for several daughter cells are produced within a common cytoplasm and then segmentation, a synchronized cytokinesis, produces individual invasive daughters. The basal complex is hypothesized to be required for segmentation, acting as a contractile ring to establish daughter cell boundaries. Here we identify an essential component of the basal complex which we name PfCINCH. Using three-dimensional reconstructions of parasites at electron microscopy resolution, we show that while parasite organelles form and divide normally, PfCINCH-deficient parasites develop inviable conjoined daughters that contain components for multiple cells. Through biochemical evaluation of the P

SUBMITTER: Rudlaff RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6522492 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature