Dataset Information

Protein signature of sexually committed malaria parasites

ABSTRACT: Sexual commitment is a crucial step in the life cycle of the human malaria parasite that allows for the formation of transmissible gametocyte stages. The process of sexual commitment is influenced by various factors and is also marked by the timely expression of a minimal set of molecular markers at the schizont stage. Prime among them is AP2-G, a transcription factor belonging to the apitella AP2 family of TFs that drives sexual commitment. Apart from AP2-G, one uniquely expressed protein in sexually committed schizonts is MSRP1. Here, taking advantage of the two sexual commitment protein markers we established transgenic reporter parasite lines which allowed us to isolate sexually committed schizonts. We have performed whole cell proteomics and mapped the first comprehensive proteome of sexually committed schizonts in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. We have identified additional proteins that are relatively highly expressed in sexually committed schizonts

INSTRUMENT(S):

ORGANISM(S): Plasmodium Falciparum (isolate 3d7)

TISSUE(S): Blood Cell, Blood

DISEASE(S): Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria

SUBMITTER: Kannan Venugopal

LAB HEAD: Matthias Marti

PROVIDER: PXD059080 | Pride | 2026-02-16

REPOSITORIES: Pride

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Dataset's files

Source:

			Action	DRS
	20240103_C33795_002_S611745_KV2_NF54_AP2G-GFP_pos_Serum.raw	Raw
	20240103_C33795_003_S611766_KV23_NF54_MSRP1-mNG_neg_AC.raw	Raw
	20240103_C33795_004_S611744_KV1_NF54_AP2G-GFP_pos_Serum.raw	Raw
	20240103_C33795_005_S611762_KV19_NF54_MSRP1-mNG_pos_AC.raw	Raw
	20240103_C33795_007_S611763_KV20_NF54_MSRP1-mNG_pos_AC.raw	Raw

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Publications

Defining the Proteome of Sexually Committed Parasites in Plasmodium falciparum.

Venugopal Kannan K Achcar Fiona F Wolski Witold E WE Nanni Paolo P Lemgruber Soares Leandro L Wright Gavin J GJ Marti Matthias M

Molecular & cellular proteomics : MCP 20251231 2

Malaria transmission from humans to mosquitoes is essential to the parasite life cycle. In the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, the rate of commitment to produce the sexual transmission stages, or gametocytes varies and is governed by genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. The sexually committed parasite has so far remained elusive due to the lack of markers to efficiently isolate these parasites for subsequent functional studies including proteomic analysis of the isolated ...[more]

PMID: 41482054

Similar Datasets

Project description:Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein MSPDBL2 is a highly polymorphic target of naturally acquired immune responses encoded by a single copy gene under strong balancing selection in natural populations. The MSPDBL2 protein is expressed in only a minority of mature schizonts of any cultured parasite line, and mspdbl2 gene expression in culture is increased in response to overexpression of the gametocyte development inducer GDV1 in an engineered parasite clone, so there is a need to characterise its natural expression variation. In this study, MSPDBL2 in mature schizonts was analyzed in the first ex vivo culture cycle of 102 clinical isolates from four endemic populations in different West African countries, by immunofluorescence microscopy with antibodies against a conserved region of the protein. In most isolates, less than 1% of mature schizonts were positive for MSPDBL2 (median of 0.6% overall), but the frequency distribution was highly skewed as eleven isolates had more than 3% schizonts positive and one had 73% positive. The expression frequencies were similar across the four endemic populations, and there was no significant difference between the clinical isolates overall and frequencies of positive schizonts previously seen in cultured P. falciparum laboratory lines. To explore whether expression of other gene loci correlated with MSPDBL2 expression, whole transcriptome sequencing was performed on schizont-enriched material from 17 of the clinical isolates with a wide range of proportions of schizonts positive. Transcripts of particular parasite genes were highly significantly positively correlated with MSPDBP2 positivity in schizonts as well as with mspdbl2 gene transcript levels, with overrepresentation of many genes previously implicated as likely to be involved in gametocytogenesis, but not including other genes including the gametocytogenesis master regulator ap2g. Although MSPDBL2 expression occurs in a highly variable proportion of schizonts in clinical isolates, and correlation with expression of some gametocytogenesis-related genes is consistent with regulation by GDV1, it is not apparently a direct marker of sexual commitment and its function in the parasite remains to be determined.