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Functional characterization of 5' UTR cis-acting sequence elements that modulate translational efficiency in Plasmodium falciparum and humans. Malar J 2022; 21:15. [PMID: 34991611 PMCID: PMC8739713 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-021-04024-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The eukaryotic parasite Plasmodium falciparum causes millions of malarial infections annually while drug resistance to common anti-malarials is further confounding eradication efforts. Translation is an attractive therapeutic target that will benefit from a deeper mechanistic understanding. As the rate limiting step of translation, initiation is a primary driver of translational efficiency. It is a complex process regulated by both cis and trans acting factors, providing numerous potential targets. Relative to model organisms and humans, P. falciparum mRNAs feature unusual 5′ untranslated regions suggesting cis-acting sequence complexity in this parasite may act to tune levels of protein synthesis through their effects on translational efficiency. Methods Here, in vitro translation is deployed to compare the role of cis-acting regulatory sequences in P. falciparum and humans. Using parasite mRNAs with high or low translational efficiency, the presence, position, and termination status of upstream “AUG”s, in addition to the base composition of the 5′ untranslated regions, were characterized. Results The density of upstream “AUG”s differed significantly among the most and least efficiently translated genes in P. falciparum, as did the average “GC” content of the 5′ untranslated regions. Using exemplars from highly translated and poorly translated mRNAs, multiple putative upstream elements were interrogated for impact on translational efficiency. Upstream “AUG”s were found to repress translation to varying degrees, depending on their position and context, while combinations of upstream “AUG”s had non-additive effects. The base composition of the 5′ untranslated regions also impacted translation, but to a lesser degree. Surprisingly, the effects of cis-acting sequences were remarkably conserved between P. falciparum and humans. Conclusions While translational regulation is inherently complex, this work contributes toward a more comprehensive understanding of parasite and human translational regulation by examining the impact of discrete cis-acting features, acting alone or in context. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12936-021-04024-2.
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Frydas A, Cacace R, van der Zee J, Van Broeckhoven C, Wauters E. Genetic variants in progranulin upstream open reading frames increase downstream protein expression. Neurobiol Aging 2021; 110:113-121. [PMID: 34620513 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 08/29/2021] [Accepted: 09/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Premature termination codon (PTC) mutations in the granulin gene (GRN) lead to loss-of-function (LOF) of the progranulin protein (PGRN), causing frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) by haploinsufficiency. GRN expression is regulated at multiple levels, including the 5' untranslated region (UTR). The main 5' UTR of GRN and an alternative 5' UTR, contain upstream open reading frames (uORFs). These mRNA elements generally act as cis-repressors of translation. Disruption of each uORF of the alternative 5' UTR, increases protein expression with the 2 ATG-initiated uORFs being capable of initiating translation. We performed targeted sequencing of the uORF regions in a Flanders-Belgian cohort of patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and identified 2 genetic variants, one in each 5' UTR. Both variants increase downstream protein levels, with the main 5' UTR variant rs76783532 causing a significant 1.5-fold increase in protein expression. We observed that the presence of functional uORFs in the alternative 5' UTR act as potential regulators of PGRN expression and demonstrate that genetic variation within GRN uORFs can alter their function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandros Frydas
- VIB Center for Molecular Neurology, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Rita Cacace
- VIB Center for Molecular Neurology, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Julie van der Zee
- VIB Center for Molecular Neurology, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Christine Van Broeckhoven
- VIB Center for Molecular Neurology, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
| | - Eline Wauters
- VIB Center for Molecular Neurology, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
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3
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The role of upstream open reading frames in translation regulation in the apicomplexan parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii. Parasitology 2021; 148:1277-1287. [PMID: 34099078 PMCID: PMC8383288 DOI: 10.1017/s0031182021000937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
During their complex life cycles, the Apicomplexan parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii employ several layers of regulation of their gene expression. One such layer is mediated at the level of translation through upstream open reading frames (uORFs). As uORFs are found in the upstream regions of a majority of transcripts in both the parasites, it is essential that their roles in translational regulation be appreciated to a greater extent. This review provides a comprehensive summary of studies that show uORF-mediated gene regulation in these parasites and highlights examples of clinically and physiologically relevant genes, including var2csa in P. falciparum, and ApiAT1 in T. gondii, that exhibit uORF-mediated regulation. In addition to these examples, several studies that use bioinformatics, transcriptomics, proteomics and ribosome profiling also indicate the possibility of widespread translational regulation by uORFs. Further analysis of these genome-wide datasets, taking into account uORFs associated with each gene, will reveal novel genes involved in key biological pathways such as cell-cycle progression, stress-response and pathogenicity. The cumulative evidence from studies presented in this review suggests that uORFs will play crucial roles in regulating gene expression during clinical disease caused by these important human pathogens.
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Messenger RNAs with large numbers of upstream open reading frames are translated via leaky scanning and reinitiation in the asexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum. Parasitology 2020; 147:1100-1113. [DOI: 10.1017/s0031182020000840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe genome of Plasmodium falciparum has one of the most skewed base-pair compositions of any eukaryote, with an AT content of 80–90%. As start and stop codons are AT-rich, the probability of finding upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in messenger RNAs (mRNAs) is high and parasite mRNAs have an average of 11 uORFs in their leader sequences. Similar to other eukaryotes, uORFs repress the translation of the downstream open reading frame (dORF) in P. falciparum, yet the parasite translation machinery is able to bypass these uORFs and reach the dORF to initiate translation. This can happen by leaky scanning and/or reinitiation.In this report, we assessed leaky scanning and reinitiation by studying the effect of uORFs on the translation of a dORF, in this case, the luciferase reporter gene, and showed that both mechanisms are employed in the asexual blood stages of P. falciparum. Furthermore, in addition to the codon usage of the uORF, translation of the dORF is governed by the Kozak sequence and length of the uORF, and inter-cistronic distance between the uORF and dORF. Based on these features whole-genome data was analysed to uncover classes of genes that might be regulated by uORFs. This study indicates that leaky scanning and reinitiation appear to be widespread in asexual stages of P. falciparum, which may require modifications of existing factors that are involved in translation initiation in addition to novel, parasite-specific proteins.
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Barnes IHA, Ibarra-Soria X, Fitzgerald S, Gonzalez JM, Davidson C, Hardy MP, Manthravadi D, Van Gerven L, Jorissen M, Zeng Z, Khan M, Mombaerts P, Harrow J, Logan DW, Frankish A. Expert curation of the human and mouse olfactory receptor gene repertoires identifies conserved coding regions split across two exons. BMC Genomics 2020; 21:196. [PMID: 32126975 PMCID: PMC7055050 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-020-6583-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Accepted: 02/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Olfactory receptor (OR) genes are the largest multi-gene family in the mammalian genome, with 874 in human and 1483 loci in mouse (including pseudogenes). The expansion of the OR gene repertoire has occurred through numerous duplication events followed by diversification, resulting in a large number of highly similar paralogous genes. These characteristics have made the annotation of the complete OR gene repertoire a complex task. Most OR genes have been predicted in silico and are typically annotated as intronless coding sequences. RESULTS Here we have developed an expert curation pipeline to analyse and annotate every OR gene in the human and mouse reference genomes. By combining evidence from structural features, evolutionary conservation and experimental data, we have unified the annotation of these gene families, and have systematically determined the protein-coding potential of each locus. We have defined the non-coding regions of many OR genes, enabling us to generate full-length transcript models. We found that 13 human and 41 mouse OR loci have coding sequences that are split across two exons. These split OR genes are conserved across mammals, and are expressed at the same level as protein-coding OR genes with an intronless coding region. Our findings challenge the long-standing and widespread notion that the coding region of a vertebrate OR gene is contained within a single exon. CONCLUSIONS This work provides the most comprehensive curation effort of the human and mouse OR gene repertoires to date. The complete annotation has been integrated into the GENCODE reference gene set, for immediate availability to the research community.
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Affiliation(s)
- If H A Barnes
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK.
| | - Ximena Ibarra-Soria
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Li Ka Shing Centre, Robinson Way, Cambridge, CB2 0RE, UK.
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK.
| | - Stephen Fitzgerald
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Jose M Gonzalez
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Claire Davidson
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Matthew P Hardy
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | | | - Laura Van Gerven
- Department of ENT-HNS, UZ Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Mark Jorissen
- Department of ENT-HNS, UZ Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Zhen Zeng
- Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics, Max von-Laue-Strasse 4, 60438, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Mona Khan
- Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics, Max von-Laue-Strasse 4, 60438, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Peter Mombaerts
- Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics, Max von-Laue-Strasse 4, 60438, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Jennifer Harrow
- ELIXIR, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Darren W Logan
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
- Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Waltham Petcare Science Institute, Leicestershire, LE14 4RT, UK
| | - Adam Frankish
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK.
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Bennink S, Pradel G. The molecular machinery of translational control in malaria parasites. Mol Microbiol 2019; 112:1658-1673. [PMID: 31531994 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.14388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Translational control regulates the levels of protein synthesized from its transcript and is key for the rapid adjustment of gene expression in response to environmental stimuli. The regulation of translation is of special importance for malaria parasites, which pass through a complex life cycle that includes various replication phases in the different organs of the human and mosquito hosts and a sexual reproduction phase in the mosquito midgut. In particular, the quiescent transmission stages rely on translational control to rapidly adapt to the new environment, once they switch over from the human to the mosquito and vice versa. Three control mechanisms are currently proposed in Plasmodium, (1) global regulation that acts on the translation initiation complex; (2) mRNA-specific regulation, involving cis control elements, mRNA-binding proteins and translational repressors; and (3) induced mRNA decay by the Ccr4-Not and the RNA exosome complex. The main molecules controlling translation are highly conserved in malaria parasites and an increasing number of studies shed light on the interwoven pathways leading to the up or downregulation of protein synthesis in the diverse plasmodial stages. We here highlight recent findings on translational control during life cycle progression of Plasmodium and discuss the molecules involved in regulating protein synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Bennink
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Gabriele Pradel
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074, Aachen, Germany
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Abstract
A large body of evidence indicates that genome annotation pipelines have biased our view of coding sequences because they generally undersample small proteins and peptides. The recent development of genome-wide translation profiling reveals the prevalence of small/short open reading frames (smORFs or sORFs), which are scattered over all classes of transcripts, including both mRNAs and presumptive long noncoding RNAs. Proteomic approaches further confirm an unexpected variety of smORF-encoded peptides (SEPs), representing an overlooked reservoir of bioactive molecules. Indeed, functional studies in a broad range of species from yeast to humans demonstrate that SEPs can harbor key activities for the control of development, differentiation, and physiology. Here we summarize recent advances in the discovery and functional characterization of smORF/SEPs and discuss why these small players can no longer be ignored with regard to genome function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serge Plaza
- Laboratoire de Recherches en Sciences Végétales, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, 31326 Castanet Tolosan, France; .,CNRS, UMR5546, Laboratoire de Recherches en Sciences Végétales, 31326 Castanet Tolosan, France
| | - Gerben Menschaert
- Department of Mathematical Modeling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, University of Ghent, 9000 Gent, Belgium
| | - François Payre
- Centre de Biologie du Développement, Centre de Biologie Intégrative, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse, France;
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8
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Chan S, Frasch A, Mandava CS, Ch'ng JH, Quintana MDP, Vesterlund M, Ghorbal M, Joannin N, Franzén O, Lopez-Rubio JJ, Barbieri S, Lanzavecchia A, Sanyal S, Wahlgren M. Regulation of PfEMP1-VAR2CSA translation by a Plasmodium translation-enhancing factor. Nat Microbiol 2017; 2:17068. [PMID: 28481333 DOI: 10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.68] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2017] [Accepted: 03/29/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Pregnancy-associated malaria commonly involves the binding of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes to placental chondroitin sulfate A (CSA) through the PfEMP1-VAR2CSA protein. VAR2CSA is translationally repressed by an upstream open reading frame. In this study, we report that the P. falciparum translation enhancing factor (PTEF) relieves upstream open reading frame repression and thereby facilitates VAR2CSA translation. VAR2CSA protein levels in var2csa-transcribing parasites are dependent on the expression level of PTEF, and the alleviation of upstream open reading frame repression requires the proteolytic processing of PTEF by PfCalpain. Cleavage generates a C-terminal domain that contains a sterile-alpha-motif-like domain. The C-terminal domain is permissive to cytoplasmic shuttling and interacts with ribosomes to facilitate translational derepression of the var2csa coding sequence. It also enhances translation in a heterologous translation system and thus represents the first non-canonical translation enhancing factor to be found in a protozoan. Our results implicate PTEF in regulating placental CSA binding of infected erythrocytes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sherwin Chan
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Box 280, Nobels väg 16, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Alejandra Frasch
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Box 280, Nobels väg 16, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Chandra Sekhar Mandava
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Box-596, 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jun-Hong Ch'ng
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Box 280, Nobels väg 16, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Microbiology, National University of Singapore 117545, Singapore
| | - Maria Del Pilar Quintana
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Box 280, Nobels väg 16, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.,Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad del Rosario, Calle 12C No. 6-25, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Mattias Vesterlund
- Cancer Proteomics, Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, 17176 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mehdi Ghorbal
- University of Montpellier, Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory of Parasitology-Mycology, Montpellier F34090, France.,CNRS - 5290, IRD 224 - University of Montpellier (UMR 'MiVEGEC'), Montpellier, France
| | - Nicolas Joannin
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Box 280, Nobels väg 16, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Oscar Franzén
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Institute of Genomics and Multiscale Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Jose-Juan Lopez-Rubio
- University of Montpellier, Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory of Parasitology-Mycology, Montpellier F34090, France.,CNRS - 5290, IRD 224 - University of Montpellier (UMR 'MiVEGEC'), Montpellier, France
| | - Sonia Barbieri
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Università della Svizzera italiana, Bellinzona 6500, Switzerland
| | - Antonio Lanzavecchia
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Università della Svizzera italiana, Bellinzona 6500, Switzerland.,Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland
| | - Suparna Sanyal
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Box-596, 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Mats Wahlgren
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Box 280, Nobels väg 16, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
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9
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Frequent GU wobble pairings reduce translation efficiency in Plasmodium falciparum. Sci Rep 2017; 7:723. [PMID: 28389662 PMCID: PMC5429705 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00801-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2016] [Accepted: 03/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Plasmodium falciparum genome has 81% A+T content. This nucleotide bias leads to extreme codon usage bias and culminates in frequent insertion of asparagine homorepeats in the proteome. Using recodonized GFP sequences, we show that codons decoded via G:U wobble pairing are suboptimal codons that are negatively associated to protein translation efficiency. Despite this, one third of all codons in the genome are GU wobble codons, suggesting that codon usage in P. falciparum has not been driven to maximize translation efficiency, but may have evolved as translational regulatory mechanism. Particularly, asparagine homorepeats are generally encoded by locally clustered GU wobble AAT codons, we demonstrated that this GU wobble-rich codon context is the determining factor that causes reduction of protein level. Moreover, insertion of clustered AAT codons also causes destabilization of the transcripts. Interestingly, more frequent asparagine homorepeats insertion is seen in single-exon genes, suggesting transcripts of these genes may have been programmed for rapid mRNA decay to compensate for the inefficiency of mRNA surveillance regulation on intronless genes. To our knowledge, this is the first study that addresses P. falciparum codon usage in vitro and provides new insights on translational regulation and genome evolution of this parasite.
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Abstract
Malaria continues to impose a significant disease burden on low- and middle-income countries in the tropics. However, revolutionary progress over the last 3 years in nucleic acid sequencing, reverse genetics, and post-genome analyses has generated step changes in our understanding of malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp.) biology and its interactions with its host and vector. Driven by the availability of vast amounts of genome sequence data from Plasmodium species strains, relevant human populations of different ethnicities, and mosquito vectors, researchers can consider any biological component of the malarial process in isolation or in the interactive setting that is infection. In particular, considerable progress has been made in the area of population genomics, with Plasmodium falciparum serving as a highly relevant model. Such studies have demonstrated that genome evolution under strong selective pressure can be detected. These data, combined with reverse genetics, have enabled the identification of the region of the P. falciparum genome that is under selective pressure and the confirmation of the functionality of the mutations in the kelch13 gene that accompany resistance to the major frontline antimalarial, artemisinin. Furthermore, the central role of epigenetic regulation of gene expression and antigenic variation and developmental fate in P. falciparum is becoming ever clearer. This review summarizes recent exciting discoveries that genome technologies have enabled in malaria research and highlights some of their applications to healthcare. The knowledge gained will help to develop surveillance approaches for the emergence or spread of drug resistance and to identify new targets for the development of antimalarial drugs and perhaps vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Kirchner
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - B Joanne Power
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Andrew P Waters
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK.
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11
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Vembar SS, Droll D, Scherf A. Translational regulation in blood stages of the malaria parasite Plasmodium spp.: systems-wide studies pave the way. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS-RNA 2016; 7:772-792. [PMID: 27230797 PMCID: PMC5111744 DOI: 10.1002/wrna.1365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2016] [Revised: 04/21/2016] [Accepted: 04/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The malaria parasite Plasmodium spp. varies the expression profile of its genes depending on the host it resides in and its developmental stage. Virtually all messenger RNA (mRNA) is expressed in a monocistronic manner, with transcriptional activation regulated at the epigenetic level and by specialized transcription factors. Furthermore, recent systems-wide studies have identified distinct mechanisms of post-transcriptional and translational control at various points of the parasite lifecycle. Taken together, it is evident that 'just-in-time' transcription and translation strategies coexist and coordinate protein expression during Plasmodium development, some of which we review here. In particular, we discuss global and specific mechanisms that control protein translation in blood stages of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, once a cytoplasmic mRNA has been generated, and its crosstalk with mRNA decay and storage. We also focus on the widespread translational delay observed during the 48-hour blood stage lifecycle of P. falciparum-for over 30% of transcribed genes, including virulence factors required to invade erythrocytes-and its regulation by cis-elements in the mRNA, RNA-processing enzymes and RNA-binding proteins; the first-characterized amongst these are the DNA- and RNA-binding Alba proteins. More generally, we conclude that translational regulation is an emerging research field in malaria parasites and propose that its elucidation will not only shed light on the complex developmental program of this parasite, but may also reveal mechanisms contributing to drug resistance and define new targets for malaria intervention strategies. WIREs RNA 2016, 7:772-792. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1365 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shruthi Sridhar Vembar
- Unité Biologie des Interactions Hôte-Parasite, Département de Parasites et Insectes Vecteurs, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
| | - Dorothea Droll
- Unité Biologie des Interactions Hôte-Parasite, Département de Parasites et Insectes Vecteurs, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Artur Scherf
- Unité Biologie des Interactions Hôte-Parasite, Département de Parasites et Insectes Vecteurs, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
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