Protein O-fucosyltransferase 2 is not essential for plasmodium berghei development
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Thrombospondin type I repeat (TSR) domains are commonly O-fucosylated by protein O-fucosyltransferase 2 (PoFUT2), and this modification is required for optimal folding and secretion of TSR-containing proteins. The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum expresses proteins containing TSR domains, such as the thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) and circumsporozoite surface protein (CSP), which are O-fucosylated. TRAP and CSP are present on the surface of sporozoites and play essential roles in mosquito and human host invasion processes during the transmission stages. Here, we have generated PoFUT2 null-mutant P. falciparum and Plasmodium berghei (rodent) malaria parasites and, by phenotyping them throughout their complete life cycle, we show that PoFUT2 disruption does not affect the growth through the mosquito stages for both species. However, contrary to what has been described previously by others, P. berghei PoFUT2 null mutant sporozoites showed no deleterious motility phenotypes and successfully established blood stage infection in mice. This unexpected result indicates that the importance of O-fucosylation of TSR domains may differ between human and RODENT malaria parasites; complicating our understanding of glycosylation modifications in malaria biology.
Date Issued
2019-07-03
Date Acceptance
2019-06-17
Citation
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 2019, 9, pp.1-9
ISSN
2235-2988
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Start Page
1
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Volume
9
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Sanz, Aquilini, Tweedell, Verma, Hamerly, Hritzo, Tripathi, Machado, Churcher, Rodrigues, Izquierdo and Dinglasan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Sponsor
PATH-Program for Appropriate Technology in Health
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000473670500001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
GAT.0888-30-01618462-COL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Immunology
Microbiology
Plasmodium falciparum
Plasmodium berghei
O-fucosylation
protein O-fucosyltransferase 2
oocyst
sporozoite
GLYCOSYLPHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL ANCHORS
INTRAERYTHROCYTIC STAGE
TYPE-1 REPEATS
LINKED GLYCANS
BLOOD STAGES
FALCIPARUM
INFECTION
SELECTION
VACCINE
TRAP
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 238
Date Publish Online
2019-07-03