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Liu C, Tang J, Liang K, Liu P, Li Z. Ready for renascence in mosquito: The regulation of gene expression in Plasmodium sexual development. Acta Trop 2024; 254:107191. [PMID: 38554994 DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2024.107191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Revised: 02/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Malaria remains one of the most perilous vector-borne infectious diseases for humans globally. Sexual gametocyte represents the exclusive stage at which malaria parasites are transmitted from the vertebrate to the Anopheles host. The feasible and effective approach to prevent malaria transmission is by addressing the sexual developmental processes, that is, gametocytogenesis and gametogenesis. Thus, this review will comprehensively cover advances in the regulation of gene expression surrounding the transmissible stages, including epigenetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cong Liu
- Institute of Pathogenic Biology and Key Laboratory of Special Pathogen Prevention and Control of Hunan Province, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, China; School of Public Health, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, China
| | - Jingjing Tang
- Institute of Pathogenic Biology and Key Laboratory of Special Pathogen Prevention and Control of Hunan Province, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, China
| | - Kejia Liang
- Institute of Pathogenic Biology and Key Laboratory of Special Pathogen Prevention and Control of Hunan Province, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, China
| | - Peng Liu
- Institute of Pathogenic Biology and Key Laboratory of Special Pathogen Prevention and Control of Hunan Province, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, China
| | - Zhenkui Li
- Institute of Pathogenic Biology and Key Laboratory of Special Pathogen Prevention and Control of Hunan Province, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, China.
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Vigetti L, Tardieux I. Fostering innovation to solve the biomechanics of microbe-host interactions: Focus on the adhesive forces underlying Apicomplexa parasite biology. Biol Cell 2023; 115:e202300016. [PMID: 37227253 DOI: 10.1111/boc.202300016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
The protozoa, Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium spp., are preeminent members of the Apicomplexa parasitic phylum in large part due to their public health and economic impact. Hence, they serve as model unicellular eukaryotes with which to explore the repertoire of molecular and cellular strategies that specific developmental morphotypes deploy to timely adjust to their host(s) in order to perpetuate. In particular, host tissue- and cell-invasive morphotypes termed zoites alternate extracellular and intracellular lifestyles, thereby sensing and reacting to a wealth of host-derived biomechanical cues over their partnership. In the recent years, biophysical tools especially related to real time force measurement have been introduced, teaching us how creative are these microbes to shape a unique motility system that powers fast gliding through a variety of extracellular matrices, across cellular barriers, in vascular systems or into host cells. Equally performant was this toolkit to start illuminating how parasites manipulate their hosting cell adhesive and rheological properties to their advantage. In this review, besides highlighting major discoveries along the way, we discuss the most promising development, synergy, and multimodal integration in active noninvasive force microscopy methods. These should in the near future unlock current limitations and allow capturing, from molecules to tissues, the many biomechanical and biophysical interplays over the dynamic host and microbe partnership.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Vigetti
- Team Biomechanics of Host-Parasite Interactions, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, INSERM U1209, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Isabelle Tardieux
- Team Biomechanics of Host-Parasite Interactions, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, INSERM U1209, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
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Herbert Mainero A, Spence PJ, Reece SE, Kamiya T. The impact of innate immunity on malaria parasite infection dynamics in rodent models. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1171176. [PMID: 37646037 PMCID: PMC10461630 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1171176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Decades of research have probed the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control the immune response to malaria. Yet many studies offer conflicting results on the functional impact of innate immunity for controlling parasite replication early in infection. We conduct a meta-analysis to seek consensus on the effect of innate immunity on parasite replication, examining three different species of rodent malaria parasite. Screening published studies that span four decades of research we collate, curate, and statistically analyze infection dynamics in immune-deficient or -augmented mice to identify and quantify general trends and reveal sources of disagreement among studies. Additionally, we estimate whether host factors or experimental methodology shape the impact of immune perturbations on parasite burden. First, we detected meta-analytic mean effect sizes (absolute Cohen's h) for the difference in parasite burden between treatment and control groups ranging from 0.1475 to 0.2321 across parasite species. This range is considered a small effect size and translates to a modest change in parasitaemia of roughly 7-12% on average at the peak of infection. Second, we reveal that variation across studies using P. chabaudi or P. yoelii is best explained by stochasticity (due to small sample sizes) rather than by host factors or experimental design. Third, we find that for P. berghei the impact of immune perturbation is increased when young or female mice are used and is greatest when effector molecules (as opposed to upstream signalling molecules) are disrupted (up to an 18% difference in peak parasitaemia). Finally, we find little evidence of publication bias suggesting that our results are robust. The small effect sizes we observe, across three parasite species, following experimental perturbations of the innate immune system may be explained by redundancy in a complex biological system or by incomplete (or inappropriate) data reporting for meta-analysis. Alternatively, our findings might indicate a need to re-evaluate the efficiency with which innate immunity controls parasite replication early in infection. Testing these hypotheses is necessary to translate understanding from model systems to human malaria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandra Herbert Mainero
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Philip J. Spence
- Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah E. Reece
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Tsukushi Kamiya
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, Collège de France, Paris, France
- HRB, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
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Allred DR. Integration of DNA Repair, Antigenic Variation, Cytoadhesion, and Chance in Babesia Survival: A Perspective. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 12:869696. [PMID: 35493746 PMCID: PMC9047050 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.869696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Apicomplexan parasites live in hostile environments in which they are challenged chemically and their hosts attempt in many ways to kill them. In response, the parasites have evolved multiple mechanisms that take advantage of these challenges to enhance their survival. Perhaps the most impressive example is the evolutionary co-option of DNA repair mechanisms by the parasites as a means to rapidly manipulate the structure, antigenicity, and expression of the products of specific multigene families. The purpose of variant proteins that mediate cytoadhesion has long been thought to be primarily the avoidance of splenic clearance. Based upon known biology, I present an alternative perspective in which it is survival of the oxidative environment within which Babesia spp. parasites live that has driven integration of DNA repair, antigenic variation, and cytoadhesion, and speculate on how genome organization affects that integration. This perspective has ramifications for the development of parasite control strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- David R. Allred
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
- Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
- Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
- *Correspondence: David R. Allred,
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Schneider P, Reece SE. The private life of malaria parasites: Strategies for sexual reproduction. Mol Biochem Parasitol 2021; 244:111375. [PMID: 34023299 PMCID: PMC8346949 DOI: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2021.111375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2021] [Revised: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Malaria parasites exhibit a complex lifecycle, requiring extensive asexual replication in the liver and blood of the vertebrate host, and in the haemocoel of the insect vector. Yet, they must also undergo a single round of sexual reproduction, which occurs in the vector's midgut upon uptake of a blood meal. Sexual reproduction is obligate for infection of the vector and thus, is essential for onwards transmission to new hosts. Sex in malaria parasites involves several bottlenecks in parasite number, making the stages involved attractive targets for blocking disease transmission. Malaria parasites have evolved a suite of adaptations ("strategies") to maximise the success of sexual reproduction and transmission, which could undermine transmission-blocking interventions. Yet, understanding parasite strategies may also reveal novel opportunities for such interventions. Here, we outline how evolutionary and ecological theories, developed to explain reproductive strategies in multicellular taxa, can be applied to explain two reproductive strategies (conversion rate and sex ratio) expressed by malaria parasites within the vertebrate host.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Schneider
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
| | - Sarah E Reece
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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Carlton JM. A cornucopia of research resources for the fourth rodent malaria parasite species. BMC Biol 2021; 19:82. [PMID: 33888109 PMCID: PMC8063385 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-01019-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of human malaria caused by species of Plasmodium has undoubtedly been enriched by the use of model systems, such as the rodent malaria parasites originally isolated from African thicket rats. A significant gap in the arsenal of resources of the species that make up the rodent malaria parasites has been the lack of any such tools for the fourth of the species, Plasmodium vinckei. This has recently been rectified by Abhinay Ramaprasad and colleagues, whose pivotal paper published in BMC Biology describes a cornucopia of new P. vinckei 'omics datasets, mosquito transmission experiments, transfection protocols, and virulence phenotypes, to propel this species firmly into the twenty-first century.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane M Carlton
- Center for Genomics & Systems Biology, Department of Biology, New York University, 12 Waverly Place, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
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Su XZ, Zhang C, Joy DA. Host-Malaria Parasite Interactions and Impacts on Mutual Evolution. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020; 10:587933. [PMID: 33194831 PMCID: PMC7652737 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.587933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Malaria is the most deadly parasitic disease, affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Malaria parasites have been associated with their hosts for millions of years. During the long history of host-parasite co-evolution, both parasites and hosts have applied pressure on each other through complex host-parasite molecular interactions. Whereas the hosts activate various immune mechanisms to remove parasites during an infection, the parasites attempt to evade host immunity by diversifying their genome and switching expression of targets of the host immune system. Human intervention to control the disease such as antimalarial drugs and vaccination can greatly alter parasite population dynamics and evolution, particularly the massive applications of antimalarial drugs in recent human history. Vaccination is likely the best method to prevent the disease; however, a partially protective vaccine may have unwanted consequences that require further investigation. Studies of host-parasite interactions and co-evolution will provide important information for designing safe and effective vaccines and for preventing drug resistance. In this essay, we will discuss some interesting molecules involved in host-parasite interactions, including important parasite antigens. We also discuss subjects relevant to drug and vaccine development and some approaches for studying host-parasite interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin-Zhuan Su
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Cui Zhang
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Deirdre A Joy
- Parasitology and International Programs Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
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