Reversible protein phosphorylation regulated by kinases
and phosphatases controls many cellular processes.
Although essential functions for the malaria
parasite kinome have been reported, the roles of
most protein phosphatases (PPs) during Plasmodium
development are unknown. We report a functional
analysis of the Plasmodium berghei protein phosphatome,
which exhibits high conservation with the
P. falciparum phosphatome and comprises 30 predicted
PPs with differential and distinct expression
patterns during various stages of the life cycle. Gene
disruption analysis of P. berghei PPs reveals that
half of the genes are likely essential for asexual
blood stage development, whereas six are required
for sexual development/sporogony in mosquitoes.
Phenotypic screening coupled with transcriptome
sequencing unveiled morphological changes and
altered gene expression in deletion mutants of two
N-myristoylated PPs. These findings provide systematic
functional analyses of PPs in Plasmodium, identify
how phosphatases regulate parasite development
and differentiation, and can inform the identification of
drug targets for malaria.