1
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Das S, Manna A, Majumdar O, Dhara L. M- O-M mediated denaturation resistant P2 tetramer on the infected erythrocyte surface of malaria parasite imports serum fatty acids. iScience 2024; 27:109760. [PMID: 38726364 PMCID: PMC11079477 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 04/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
In Plasmodium falciparum, DNA replication, and asynchronous nuclear divisions precede cytokinesis during intraerythrocytic schizogony. Regulation of nuclear division through the import of serum components was largely unknown. At the trophozoite stage, P. falciparum ribosomal protein P2 (PfP2) is exported to the infected erythrocyte (IE) cytosol and the surface as a denaturation-resistant tetramer. The inaccessibility of the IE surface exposed PfP2 to its bona fide ligand led to the arrest of nuclear division. Here, we show that at the onset of schizogony, denaturation-resistant PfP2 tetramer on the IE surface imports fatty acids (FAs). Blockage of import reversibly arrested parasite schizogony. In 11Met-O-Met11 mediated denaturation resistant PfP2 tetramer, the 12/53Cys-Cys12/53 redox switch regulates the binding and release of FAs based on oxidized/reduced state of disulfide linkages. This mechanistic insight of FAs import through PfP2 tetramer reveals a unique regulation of nuclear division at the onset of schizogony.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sudipta Das
- Division of infectious Disease and Immunology, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S.C Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India
| | - Anwesa Manna
- Division of infectious Disease and Immunology, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S.C Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India
| | - Oindrila Majumdar
- Division of infectious Disease and Immunology, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S.C Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India
| | - Lena Dhara
- Division of infectious Disease and Immunology, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S.C Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India
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2
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Narwal SK, Mishra A, Devi R, Ghosh A, Choudhary HH, Mishra S. Stearoyl-CoA desaturase regulates organelle biogenesis and hepatic merozoite formation in Plasmodium berghei. Mol Microbiol 2024; 121:940-953. [PMID: 38419272 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.15246] [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: 08/14/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Plasmodium is an obligate intracellular parasite that requires intense lipid synthesis for membrane biogenesis and survival. One of the principal membrane components is oleic acid, which is needed to maintain the membrane's biophysical properties and fluidity. The malaria parasite can modify fatty acids, and stearoyl-CoA Δ9-desaturase (Scd) is an enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of oleic acid by desaturation of stearic acid. Scd is dispensable in P. falciparum blood stages; however, its role in mosquito and liver stages remains unknown. We show that P. berghei Scd localizes to the ER in the blood and liver stages. Disruption of Scd in the rodent malaria parasite P. berghei did not affect parasite blood stage propagation, mosquito stage development, or early liver-stage development. However, when Scd KO sporozoites were inoculated intravenously or by mosquito bite into mice, they failed to initiate blood-stage infection. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that organelle biogenesis was impaired and merozoite formation was abolished, which initiates blood-stage infections. Genetic complementation of the KO parasites restored merozoite formation to a level similar to that of WT parasites. Mice immunized with Scd KO sporozoites confer long-lasting sterile protection against infectious sporozoite challenge. Thus, the Scd KO parasite is an appealing candidate for inducing protective pre-erythrocytic immunity and hence its utility as a GAP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sunil Kumar Narwal
- Division of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India
| | - Akancha Mishra
- Division of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, India
| | - Raksha Devi
- Division of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, India
| | - Ankit Ghosh
- Division of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India
| | - Hadi Hasan Choudhary
- Division of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India
| | - Satish Mishra
- Division of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, India
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3
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Liu J, Fike KR, Dapper C, Klemba M. Metabolism of host lysophosphatidylcholine in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2320262121. [PMID: 38349879 PMCID: PMC10895272 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320262121] [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: 11/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Abstract
The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum requires exogenous fatty acids to support its growth during the pathogenic, asexual erythrocytic stage. Host serum lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) is a significant fatty acid source, yet the metabolic processes responsible for the liberation of free fatty acids from exogenous LPC are unknown. Using an assay for LPC hydrolysis in P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes, we have identified small-molecule inhibitors of key in situ lysophospholipase activities. Competitive activity-based profiling and generation of a panel of single-to-quadruple knockout parasite lines revealed that two enzymes of the serine hydrolase superfamily, termed exported lipase (XL) 2 and exported lipase homolog (XLH) 4, constitute the dominant lysophospholipase activities in parasite-infected erythrocytes. The parasite ensures efficient exogenous LPC hydrolysis by directing these two enzymes to distinct locations: XL2 is exported to the erythrocyte, while XLH4 is retained within the parasite. While XL2 and XLH4 were individually dispensable with little effect on LPC hydrolysis in situ, loss of both enzymes resulted in a strong reduction in fatty acid scavenging from LPC, hyperproduction of phosphatidylcholine, and an enhanced sensitivity to LPC toxicity. Notably, growth of XL/XLH-deficient parasites was severely impaired when cultured in media containing LPC as the sole exogenous fatty acid source. Furthermore, when XL2 and XLH4 activities were ablated by genetic or pharmacologic means, parasites were unable to proliferate in human serum, a physiologically relevant fatty acid source, revealing the essentiality of LPC hydrolysis in the host environment and its potential as a target for anti-malarial therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiapeng Liu
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA24061
| | | | - Christie Dapper
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA24061
| | - Michael Klemba
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA24061
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4
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Shunmugam S, Quansah N, Flammersfeld A, Islam MM, Sassmannshausen J, Bennink S, Yamaryo-Botté Y, Pradel G, Botté CY. The patatin-like phospholipase PfPNPLA2 is involved in the mitochondrial degradation of phosphatidylglycerol during Plasmodium falciparum blood stage development. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2023; 13:997245. [PMID: 38089812 PMCID: PMC10711835 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.997245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Plasmodium falciparum is an Apicomplexa responsible for human malaria, a major disease causing more than ½ million deaths every year, against which there is no fully efficient vaccine. The current rapid emergence of drug resistances emphasizes the need to identify novel drug targets. Increasing evidences show that lipid synthesis and trafficking are essential for parasite survival and pathogenesis, and that these pathways represent potential points of attack. Large amounts of phospholipids are needed for the generation of membrane compartments for newly divided parasites in the host cell. Parasite membrane homeostasis is achieved by an essential combination of parasite de novo lipid synthesis/recycling and massive host lipid scavenging. Latest data suggest that the mobilization and channeling of lipid resources is key for asexual parasite survival within the host red blood cell, but the molecular actors allowing lipid acquisition are poorly characterized. Enzymes remodeling lipids such as phospholipases are likely involved in these mechanisms. P. falciparum possesses an unusually large set of phospholipases, whose functions are largely unknown. Here we focused on the putative patatin-like phospholipase PfPNPLA2, for which we generated an glmS-inducible knockdown line and investigated its role during blood stages malaria. Disruption of the mitochondrial PfPNPLA2 in the asexual blood stages affected mitochondrial morphology and further induced a significant defect in parasite replication and survival, in particular under low host lipid availability. Lipidomic analyses revealed that PfPNPLA2 specifically degrades the parasite membrane lipid phosphatidylglycerol to generate lysobisphosphatidic acid. PfPNPLA2 knockdown further resulted in an increased host lipid scavenging accumulating in the form of storage lipids and free fatty acids. These results suggest that PfPNPLA2 is involved in the recycling of parasite phosphatidylglycerol to sustain optimal intraerythrocytic development when the host resources are scarce. This work strengthens our understanding of the complex lipid homeostasis pathways to acquire lipids and allow asexual parasite survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena Shunmugam
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Avanced Biosciences, Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR5309, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Nyamekye Quansah
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Avanced Biosciences, Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR5309, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Ansgar Flammersfeld
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Md Muzahidul Islam
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, India
| | - Juliane Sassmannshausen
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Sandra Bennink
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Yoshiki Yamaryo-Botté
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Avanced Biosciences, Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR5309, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Gabriele Pradel
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Cyrille Y. Botté
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Avanced Biosciences, Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR5309, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
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5
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Vallintine T, van Ooij C. Distribution of malaria parasite-derived phosphatidylcholine in the infected erythrocyte. mSphere 2023; 8:e0013123. [PMID: 37606582 PMCID: PMC10597409 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00131-23] [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: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Malaria parasites modify their host erythrocyte in multiple ways, leading to changes in the deformability, adhesiveness, and permeability of the host erythrocyte. Most of these changes are mediated by proteins exported from the parasite to the host erythrocyte, where these proteins interact with the host cell cytoskeleton or form complexes in the plasma membrane of the infected erythrocyte. In addition, malaria parasites induce the formation of membranous compartments-the parasitophorous vacuole, the tubovesicular network (TVN), the Maurer's clefts and small vesicles-within the infected erythrocyte, a cell that is normally devoid of internal membranes. After infection, changes also occur in the composition and asymmetry of the erythrocyte plasma membrane. Although many aspects of the mechanism of export of parasite proteins have become clear, the mechanism by which these membranous compartments are formed and expanded is almost entirely unknown. To determine whether parasite-derived phospholipids play a part in these processes, we applied a metabolic labeling technique that allows phosphatidylcholine to be labeled with a fluorophore. As the host erythrocyte cannot synthesize phospholipids, within infected erythrocytes, only parasite-derived phosphatidylcholine will be labeled with this technique. The results revealed that phosphatidylcholine produced by the parasite is distributed throughout the infected erythrocyte, including the TVN and the erythrocyte plasma membrane, but not Maurer's clefts. Interestingly, labeled phospholipids were also detected in the erythrocyte plasma membrane very soon after invasion of the parasites, indicating that the parasite may add phospholipids to the host erythrocyte during invasion. IMPORTANCE Here, we describe a previously unappreciated way in which the malaria parasite interacts with the host erythrocyte, namely, by the transfer of parasite phospholipids to the erythrocyte plasma membrane. This likely has important consequences for the survival of the parasite in the host cell and the host organism. We show that parasite-derived phospholipids are transferred from the parasite to the host erythrocyte plasma membrane and that other internal membranes that are produced after the parasite has invaded the cell are produced, at least in part, using parasite-derived phospholipids. The one exception to this is the Maurer's cleft, a membranous organelle that is involved in the transport of parasite proteins to the surface of the erythrocyte. This reveals that the Maurer's cleft is produced in a different manner than the other parasite-induced membranes. Overall, these findings provide a platform for the study of a new aspect of the host-parasite interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tansy Vallintine
- Department of Infection Biology, Faculty of Infectious Disease, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Christiaan van Ooij
- Department of Infection Biology, Faculty of Infectious Disease, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
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6
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Basco LK. Cultivation of Asexual Intraerythrocytic Stages of Plasmodium falciparum. Pathogens 2023; 12:900. [PMID: 37513747 PMCID: PMC10384318 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12070900] [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: 05/17/2023] [Revised: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Successfully developed in 1976, the continuous in vitro culture of Plasmodium falciparum has many applications in the field of malaria research. It has become an important experimental model that directly uses a human pathogen responsible for a high prevalence of morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world and is a major source of biological material for immunological, biochemical, molecular, and pharmacological studies. Until present, the basic techniques described by Trager and Jensen and Haynes et al. remain unchanged in many malaria research laboratories. Nonetheless, different factors, including culture media, buffers, serum substitutes and supplements, sources of erythrocytes, and conditions of incubation (especially oxygen concentration), have been modified by different investigators to adapt the original technique in their laboratories or enhance the in vitro growth of the parasites. The possible effects and benefits of these modifications for the continuous cultivation of asexual intraerythrocytic stages of P. falciparum, as well as future challenges in developing a serum-free cultivation system and axenic cultures, are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo K Basco
- Aix-Marseille Université, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille (AP-HM), Service de Santé des Armées (SSA), Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) Vecteurs-Infections Tropicales et Méditerranéennes (VITROME), 13005 Marseille, France
- Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire-Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France
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7
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Liu J, Dapper C, Klemba M. Metabolism of host lysophosphatidylcholine in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.04.17.537066. [PMID: 37131712 PMCID: PMC10153170 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.17.537066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum requires exogenous fatty acids to support its growth during the pathogenic, asexual erythrocytic stage. Host serum lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) is a significant fatty acid source, yet the metabolic processes responsible for the liberation of free fatty acids from exogenous LPC are unknown. Using a novel assay for LPC hydrolysis in P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes, we have identified small-molecule inhibitors of key in situ lysophospholipase activities. Competitive activity-based profiling and generation of a panel of single-to-quadruple knockout parasite lines revealed that two enzymes of the serine hydrolase superfamily, termed exported lipase (XL) 2 and exported lipase homolog (XLH) 4, are the dominant lysophospholipase activities in parasite-infected erythrocytes. The parasite ensures efficient exogenous LPC hydrolysis by directing these two enzymes to distinct locations: XL2 is exported to the erythrocyte, while XLH4 is retained within the parasite. While XL2 and XLH4 were individually dispensable with little effect on LPC hydrolysis in situ, loss of both enzymes resulted in a strong reduction in fatty acid scavenging from LPC, hyperproduction of phosphatidylcholine, and an enhanced sensitivity to LPC toxicity. Notably, growth of XL/XLH-deficient parasites was severely impaired when cultured in media containing LPC as the sole exogenous fatty acid source. Furthermore, when XL2 and XLH4 activities were ablated by genetic or pharmacologic means, parasites were unable to proliferate in human serum, a physiologically-relevant fatty acid source, revealing the essentiality of LPC hydrolysis in the host environment and its potential as a target for anti-malarial therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiapeng Liu
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061
| | - Christie Dapper
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061
| | - Michael Klemba
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061
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8
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Bopp S, Pasaje CFA, Summers RL, Magistrado-Coxen P, Schindler KA, Corpas-Lopez V, Yeo T, Mok S, Dey S, Smick S, Nasamu AS, Demas AR, Milne R, Wiedemar N, Corey V, Gomez-Lorenzo MDG, Franco V, Early AM, Lukens AK, Milner D, Furtado J, Gamo FJ, Winzeler EA, Volkman SK, Duffey M, Laleu B, Fidock DA, Wyllie S, Niles JC, Wirth DF. Potent acyl-CoA synthetase 10 inhibitors kill Plasmodium falciparum by disrupting triglyceride formation. Nat Commun 2023; 14:1455. [PMID: 36927839 PMCID: PMC10020447 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36921-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2020] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Identifying how small molecules act to kill malaria parasites can lead to new "chemically validated" targets. By pressuring Plasmodium falciparum asexual blood stage parasites with three novel structurally-unrelated antimalarial compounds (MMV665924, MMV019719 and MMV897615), and performing whole-genome sequence analysis on resistant parasite lines, we identify multiple mutations in the P. falciparum acyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) genes PfACS10 (PF3D7_0525100, M300I, A268D/V, F427L) and PfACS11 (PF3D7_1238800, F387V, D648Y, and E668K). Allelic replacement and thermal proteome profiling validates PfACS10 as a target of these compounds. We demonstrate that this protein is essential for parasite growth by conditional knockdown and observe increased compound susceptibility upon reduced expression. Inhibition of PfACS10 leads to a reduction in triacylglycerols and a buildup of its lipid precursors, providing key insights into its function. Analysis of the PfACS11 gene and its mutations point to a role in mediating resistance via decreased protein stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Selina Bopp
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Robert L Summers
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Pamela Magistrado-Coxen
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Kyra A Schindler
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Victoriano Corpas-Lopez
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, UK
| | - Tomas Yeo
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sachel Mok
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sumanta Dey
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Sebastian Smick
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Armiyaw S Nasamu
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Allison R Demas
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Rachel Milne
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, UK
| | - Natalie Wiedemar
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, UK
| | - Victoria Corey
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Maria De Gracia Gomez-Lorenzo
- Tres Cantos Medicines Research and Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Virginia Franco
- Tres Cantos Medicines Research and Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Angela M Early
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Amanda K Lukens
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Danny Milner
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Jeremy Furtado
- Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Francisco-Javier Gamo
- Tres Cantos Medicines Research and Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Elizabeth A Winzeler
- Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sarah K Volkman
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
- College of Natural, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, Simmons University, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Benoît Laleu
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - David A Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Susan Wyllie
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, UK
| | - Jacquin C Niles
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Dyann F Wirth
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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9
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Continuous In Vitro Culture of Babesia duncani in a Serum-Free Medium. Cells 2023; 12:cells12030482. [PMID: 36766823 PMCID: PMC9914146 DOI: 10.3390/cells12030482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Human babesiosis is an emerging tick-borne disease, caused by haemoprotozoa genus of Babesia. Cases of transfusion-transmitted and naturally acquired Babesia infection have been reported worldwide in recent years and causing a serious public health problem. Babesia duncani is one of the important pathogens of human babesiosis, which seriously endangers human health. The in vitro culture systems of B. duncani have been previously established, and it requires fetal bovine serum (FBS) to support long-term proliferation. However, there are no studies on serum-free in vitro culture of B. duncani. In this study, we reported that B. duncani achieved long-term serum-free culture in VP-SFM AGTTM (VP-SFM) supplemented with AlbuMaxTM I. The effect of adding different dilutions of AlbuMaxTM I to VP-SFM showed that 2 mg/mL AlbuMaxTM I had the best B. duncani growth curve with a maximum percentage of parasitized erythrocytes (PPE) of over 40%, and it can be used for long-term in vitro culture of B. duncani. However, the commonly used 20% serum-supplemented medium only achieves 20% PPE. Clearly, VP-SFM with 2 mg/mL AlbuMaxTM I (VP-SFMA) is more suitable for the in vitro proliferation of B. duncani. VP-SFM supplemented with CD lipid mixture was also tested, and the results showed it could support the parasite growth at 1:100 dilution with the highest PPE of 40%, which is similar to that of 2 mg/mL AlbuMaxTM I. However, the CD lipid mixture was only able to support the in vitro culture of B. duncani for 8 generations, while VP-SFMA could be used for long-term culture. To test the pathogenicity, the VP-SFMA cultured B. duncani was also subjected to hamster infection. Results showed that the hamster developed dyspnea and chills on day 7 with 30% PPE before treatment, which is similar to the symptoms with un-cultured B. duncani. This study develops a unique and reliable basis for further understanding of the physiological mechanisms, growth characteristics, and pathogenesis of babesiosis, and provides good laboratory material for the development of drugs or vaccines for human babesiosis and possibly other parasitic diseases.
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10
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Leveraging a Fluorescent Fatty Acid Probe to Discover Cell-Permeable Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum Glycerolipid Biosynthesis. Microbiol Spectr 2022; 10:e0245622. [PMID: 36314974 PMCID: PMC9769509 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02456-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
A sensitive and quantitative fluorescence-based approach is presented for characterizing fatty acid acquisition and lipid biosynthesis by asexually replicating, intraerythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum. We show that a BODIPY-containing, green-fluorescent fatty acid analog is efficiently and rapidly incorporated into parasite neutral lipids and phospholipids. Prelabeling with a red-fluorescent ceramide analog permits normalization and enables reliable quantitation of glycerolipid labeling. Inhibition of lipid labeling by competition with natural fatty acids and by acyl-coenzyme A synthetase and diacylglycerol acyltransferase inhibitors demonstrates that the fluorescent fatty acid probe is acquired, activated, and transferred to lipids through physiologically-relevant pathways. To assess its utility in discovering small molecules that block parasite lipid biosynthesis, the lipid labeling assay was used to screen a panel of mammalian lipase inhibitors and a selection of compounds from the "Malaria Box" anti-malarial collection. Several compounds were identified that inhibited the incorporation of the fluorescent fatty acid probe into lipids in cultured parasites at low micromolar concentrations. Two contrasting profiles of suppression of neutral lipid and phospholipid synthesis were observed, which implies the inhibition of distinct pathways. IMPORTANCE The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum relies on fatty acid scavenging to supply this essential precursor of lipid synthesis during its asexual replication cycle in human erythrocytes. This dependence on host fatty acids represents a potential vulnerability that can be exploited to develop new anti-malarial therapies. The quantitative experimental approach described here provides a platform for simultaneously interrogating multiple facets of lipid metabolism- fatty acid uptake, fatty acyl-CoA synthesis, and neutral lipid and phospholipid biosynthesis- and of identifying cell-permeable inhibitors that are active in situ.
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11
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Creation and preclinical evaluation of genetically attenuated malaria parasites arresting growth late in the liver. NPJ Vaccines 2022; 7:139. [PMCID: PMC9636417 DOI: 10.1038/s41541-022-00558-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractWhole-sporozoite (WSp) malaria vaccines induce protective immune responses in animal malaria models and in humans. A recent clinical trial with a WSp vaccine comprising genetically attenuated parasites (GAP) which arrest growth early in the liver (PfSPZ-GA1), showed that GAPs can be safely administered to humans and immunogenicity is comparable to radiation-attenuated PfSPZ Vaccine. GAPs that arrest late in the liver stage (LA-GAP) have potential for increased potency as shown in rodent malaria models. Here we describe the generation of four putative P. falciparum LA-GAPs, generated by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene deletion. One out of four gene-deletion mutants produced sporozoites in sufficient numbers for further preclinical evaluation. This mutant, PfΔmei2, lacking the mei2-like RNA gene, showed late liver growth arrest in human liver-chimeric mice with human erythrocytes, absence of unwanted genetic alterations and sensitivity to antimalarial drugs. These features of PfΔmei2 make it a promising vaccine candidate, supporting further clinical evaluation. PfΔmei2 (GA2) has passed regulatory approval for safety and efficacy testing in humans based on the findings reported in this study.
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12
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Shunmugam S, Arnold CS, Dass S, Katris NJ, Botté CY. The flexibility of Apicomplexa parasites in lipid metabolism. PLoS Pathog 2022; 18:e1010313. [PMID: 35298557 PMCID: PMC8929637 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Apicomplexa are obligate intracellular parasites responsible for major human infectious diseases such as toxoplasmosis and malaria, which pose social and economic burdens around the world. To survive and propagate, these parasites need to acquire a significant number of essential biomolecules from their hosts. Among these biomolecules, lipids are a key metabolite required for parasite membrane biogenesis, signaling events, and energy storage. Parasites can either scavenge lipids from their host or synthesize them de novo in a relict plastid, the apicoplast. During their complex life cycle (sexual/asexual/dormant), Apicomplexa infect a large variety of cells and their metabolic flexibility allows them to adapt to different host environments such as low/high fat content or low/high sugar levels. In this review, we discuss the role of lipids in Apicomplexa parasites and summarize recent findings on the metabolic mechanisms in host nutrient adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena Shunmugam
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM U1209, Grenoble, France
| | - Christophe-Sébastien Arnold
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM U1209, Grenoble, France
| | - Sheena Dass
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM U1209, Grenoble, France
| | - Nicholas J. Katris
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM U1209, Grenoble, France
| | - Cyrille Y. Botté
- Apicolipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM U1209, Grenoble, France
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13
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Shaw WR, Marcenac P, Catteruccia F. Plasmodium development in Anopheles: a tale of shared resources. Trends Parasitol 2022; 38:124-135. [PMID: 34548252 PMCID: PMC8758519 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Revised: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Interactions between the Anopheles mosquito vector and Plasmodium parasites shape how malaria is transmitted in endemic regions. The long association of these two organisms has led to evolutionary processes that minimize fitness costs of infection and benefit both players through shared nutrient resources, parasite immune suppression, and mosquito tolerance to infection. In this review we explore recent data describing how Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite, associates with one of its most important natural mosquito hosts, Anopheles gambiae, and we discuss the implications of these findings for parasite transmission and vector control strategies currently in development.
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Affiliation(s)
- W Robert Shaw
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Perrine Marcenac
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Flaminia Catteruccia
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
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14
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Asad M, Yamaryo-Botté Y, Hossain ME, Thakur V, Jain S, Datta G, Botté CY, Mohmmed A. An essential vesicular-trafficking phospholipase mediates neutral lipid synthesis and contributes to hemozoin formation in Plasmodium falciparum. BMC Biol 2021; 19:159. [PMID: 34380472 PMCID: PMC8359613 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-01042-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Plasmodium falciparum is the pathogen responsible for the most devastating form of human malaria. As it replicates asexually in the erythrocytes of its human host, the parasite feeds on haemoglobin uptaken from these cells. Heme, a toxic by-product of haemoglobin utilization by the parasite, is neutralized into inert hemozoin in the food vacuole of the parasite. Lipid homeostasis and phospholipid metabolism are crucial for this process, as well as for the parasite’s survival and propagation within the host. P. falciparum harbours a uniquely large family of phospholipases, which are suggested to play key roles in lipid metabolism and utilization. Results Here, we show that one of the parasite phospholipase (P. falciparum lysophospholipase, PfLPL1) plays an essential role in lipid homeostasis linked with the haemoglobin degradation and heme conversion pathway. Fluorescence tagging showed that the PfLPL1 in infected blood cells localizes to dynamic vesicular structures that traffic from the host-parasite interface at the parasite periphery, through the cytosol, to get incorporated into a large vesicular lipid rich body next to the food-vacuole. PfLPL1 is shown to harbour enzymatic activity to catabolize phospholipids, and its transient downregulation in the parasite caused a significant reduction of neutral lipids in the food vacuole-associated lipid bodies. This hindered the conversion of heme, originating from host haemoglobin, into the hemozoin, and disrupted the parasite development cycle and parasite growth. Detailed lipidomic analyses of inducible knock-down parasites deciphered the functional role of PfLPL1 in generation of neutral lipid through recycling of phospholipids. Further, exogenous fatty-acids were able to complement downregulation of PfLPL1 to rescue the parasite growth as well as restore hemozoin levels. Conclusions We found that the transient downregulation of PfLPL1 in the parasite disrupted lipid homeostasis and caused a reduction in neutral lipids essentially required for heme to hemozoin conversion. Our study suggests a crucial link between phospholipid catabolism and generation of neutral lipids (TAGs) with the host haemoglobin degradation pathway. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12915-021-01042-z.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohd Asad
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, 110 067, India
| | - Yoshiki Yamaryo-Botté
- ApicoLipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM U1209, Grenoble, France
| | - Mohammad E Hossain
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, 110 067, India
| | - Vandana Thakur
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, 110 067, India
| | - Shaifali Jain
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, 110 067, India
| | - Gaurav Datta
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, 110 067, India
| | - Cyrille Y Botté
- ApicoLipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, CNRS UMR5309, Université Grenoble Alpes, INSERM U1209, Grenoble, France
| | - Asif Mohmmed
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, 110 067, India.
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15
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Abdrabou W, Dieng MM, Diawara A, Sermé SS, Almojil D, Sombié S, Henry NB, Kargougou D, Manikandan V, Soulama I, Idaghdour Y. Metabolome modulation of the host adaptive immunity in human malaria. Nat Metab 2021; 3:1001-1016. [PMID: 34113019 DOI: 10.1038/s42255-021-00404-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Host responses to infection with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum vary among individuals for reasons that are poorly understood. Here we reveal metabolic perturbations as a consequence of malaria infection in children and identify an immunosuppressive role of endogenous steroid production in the context of P. falciparum infection. We perform metabolomics on matched samples from children from two ethnic groups in West Africa, before and after infection with seasonal malaria. Analysing 306 global metabolomes, we identify 92 parasitaemia-associated metabolites with impact on the host adaptive immune response. Integrative metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses, and causal mediation and moderation analyses, reveal an infection-driven immunosuppressive role of parasitaemia-associated pregnenolone steroids on lymphocyte function and the expression of key immunoregulatory lymphocyte genes in the Gouin ethnic group. In children from the less malaria-susceptible Fulani ethnic group, we observe opposing responses following infection, consistent with the immunosuppressive role of endogenous steroids in malaria. These findings advance our understanding of P. falciparum pathogenesis in humans and identify potential new targets for antimalarial therapeutic interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wael Abdrabou
- Program in Biology, Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Department of Biology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Mame Massar Dieng
- Program in Biology, Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Aïssatou Diawara
- Program in Biology, Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Samuel Sindié Sermé
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Dareen Almojil
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Salif Sombié
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Noelie Bere Henry
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Désiré Kargougou
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Vinu Manikandan
- Program in Biology, Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Issiaka Soulama
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Youssef Idaghdour
- Program in Biology, Division of Science and Mathematics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
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16
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Creative interior design by Plasmodium falciparum: Lipid metabolism and the parasite's secret chamber. Parasitol Int 2021; 83:102369. [PMID: 33905815 DOI: 10.1016/j.parint.2021.102369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Revised: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Malaria parasites conceal themselves within host erythrocytes and establish a necessary logistics system through the three-membrane layered structures of these cells. To establish this system, lipid metabolism is needed for the de novo synthesis of lipids and the recycling of extracellular lipids and erythrocyte lipid components. Cholesterol supply depends on its uptake from the extracellular environment and erythrocyte cytoplasm, but phospholipids can be synthesized on their own. This differential production of lipid species creates unique modifications in the lipid profile of parasitized erythrocytes, which in turn may influence the biophysical and/or mechanical properties of organelles and vesicles and communication among them. Variations in local membrane properties possibly influence the transportation of various molecules such as parasite-derived proteins, because efficiencies in secretion, vesicle fusion and budding are partly determined by the lipid profiles. Comprehensive understanding of the parasite's lipid metabolism and the biophysics of lipid membranes provides fundamental knowledge about these pathogenic organisms and could lead to new anti-malarials.
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17
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Zhou M, Varol A, Efferth T. Multi-omics approaches to improve malaria therapy. Pharmacol Res 2021; 167:105570. [PMID: 33766628 DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2021.105570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Revised: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Malaria contributes to the most widespread infectious diseases worldwide. Even though current drugs are commercially available, the ever-increasing drug resistance problem by malaria parasites poses new challenges in malaria therapy. Hence, searching for efficient therapeutic strategies is of high priority in malaria control. In recent years, multi-omics technologies have been extensively applied to provide a more holistic view of functional principles and dynamics of biological mechanisms. We briefly review multi-omics technologies and focus on recent malaria progress conducted with the help of various omics methods. Then, we present up-to-date advances for multi-omics approaches in malaria. Next, we describe resistance phenomena to established antimalarial drugs and underlying mechanisms. Finally, we provide insight into novel multi-omics approaches, new drugs and vaccine developments and analyze current gaps in multi-omics research. Although multi-omics approaches have been successfully used in malaria studies, they are still limited. Many gaps need to be filled to bridge the gap between basic research and treatment of malaria patients. Multi-omics approaches will foster a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of Plasmodium that are essential for the development of novel drugs and vaccines to fight this disastrous disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Zhou
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Ayşegül Varol
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Thomas Efferth
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
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18
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Hayakawa EH, Kato H, Nardone GA, Usukura J. A prospective mechanism and source of cholesterol uptake by Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes co-cultured with HepG2 cells. Parasitol Int 2020; 80:102179. [PMID: 32853776 DOI: 10.1016/j.parint.2020.102179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2020] [Revised: 06/23/2020] [Accepted: 07/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) parasites still cause lethal infections worldwide, especially in Africa (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/world-malaria-report-2019). During P. falciparum blood-stage infections in humans, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein and cholesterol levels in the blood become low. Because P. falciparum lacks a de novo cholesterol synthesis pathway, it must import cholesterol from the surrounding environment. However, the origin of the cholesterol and how it is taken up by the parasite across the multiple membranes that surround it is not fully understood. To answer this, we used a cholesterol synthesis inhibiter (simvastatin), a cholesterol transport inhibitor (ezetimibe), and an activating ligand of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α, called ciprofibrate, to investigate the effects of these agents on the intraerythrocytic growth of P. falciparum, both with and without HepG2 cells as the lipoprotein feeders. P. falciparum growth was inhibited in the presence of ezetimibe, but ezetimibe was not very effective at inhibiting P. falciparum growth when used in the co-culture system, unlike simvastatin, which strongly promoted parasite growth in this system. Ezetimibe is known to inhibit cholesterol absorption by blocking the activity of Niemann-Pick C1 like 1 (NPC1L1) protein, and simvastatin is known to enhance NPC1L1 expression in the human body's small intestine. Collectively, our results support the possibility that cholesterol import by P. falciparum involves hepatocytes, and cholesterol uptake into the parasite occurs via NPC1L1 protein or an NPC1L1 homolog during the erythrocytic stages of the P. falciparum lifecycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eri H Hayakawa
- Division of Medical Zoology, Department of Infection and Immunity, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan.
| | - Hirotomo Kato
- Division of Medical Zoology, Department of Infection and Immunity, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
| | - Glenn A Nardone
- Research Technology Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-5766, USA
| | - Jiro Usukura
- Institute of Material and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
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19
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Brazenor AK, Francis DS, Conlan JA, Carton AG, Hutson KS. Temperature alters reproduction and maternal provisioning in a fish ectoparasite. Int J Parasitol 2020; 50:839-849. [PMID: 32663501 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2020.03.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2019] [Revised: 03/07/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
This study quantified the effects of temperature on reproduction and maternal provisioning of the ectoparasite, Neobenedenia girellae (Platyhelminthes: Monogenea), a species known to cause detrimental impacts to aquaculture fishes in tropical and subtropical environments worldwide. At 20 and 25 °C, parasites exhibited relatively slower production of larger eggs that were energy-dense. In contrast, parasites at 30 °C attained sexual maturity faster, were reproductively active over a shorter period, grew to a smaller size and laid smaller, less energy-rich eggs at a faster rate. As such, parasites exhibited two distinct reproductive patterns in response to temperature: parasites at lower temperatures produced larger eggs with higher energy content, while those at the higher temperature had a higher rate of egg production. Larger eggs produced under cooler conditions were better provisioned with energetic reserves and important, membrane-bound lipids that would likely facilitate larval longevity and development success. This is commensurate with previous observations of epizootics of this parasite species in aquaculture systems during winter. Meanwhile, eggs produced at 30 °C contained higher proportions of saturated fatty acids compared with polyunsaturated fatty acids, likely reflecting metabolic regulation of cell membrane fluidity, which is necessary for larvae to survive warm conditions. This study demonstrates that fish ectoparasites have evolved substantial reproductive and metabolic flexibility to maximise infection success under variable environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander K Brazenor
- Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and the College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
| | - David S Francis
- Australian Institute of Marine Science PMB No 3, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
| | - Jessica A Conlan
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
| | - Alexander G Carton
- Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and the College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia; School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences and Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC) Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Queensland 4701, Australia
| | - Kate S Hutson
- Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and the College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia; Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, Nelson 7010, New Zealand.
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20
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Stanway RR, Bushell E, Chiappino-Pepe A, Roques M, Sanderson T, Franke-Fayard B, Caldelari R, Golomingi M, Nyonda M, Pandey V, Schwach F, Chevalley S, Ramesar J, Metcalf T, Herd C, Burda PC, Rayner JC, Soldati-Favre D, Janse CJ, Hatzimanikatis V, Billker O, Heussler VT. Genome-Scale Identification of Essential Metabolic Processes for Targeting the Plasmodium Liver Stage. Cell 2020; 179:1112-1128.e26. [PMID: 31730853 PMCID: PMC6904910 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.10.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2019] [Revised: 07/23/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Plasmodium gene functions in mosquito and liver stages remain poorly characterized due to limitations in the throughput of phenotyping at these stages. To fill this gap, we followed more than 1,300 barcoded P. berghei mutants through the life cycle. We discover 461 genes required for efficient parasite transmission to mosquitoes through the liver stage and back into the bloodstream of mice. We analyze the screen in the context of genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic data by building a thermodynamic model of P. berghei liver-stage metabolism, which shows a major reprogramming of parasite metabolism to achieve rapid growth in the liver. We identify seven metabolic subsystems that become essential at the liver stages compared with asexual blood stages: type II fatty acid synthesis and elongation (FAE), tricarboxylic acid, amino sugar, heme, lipoate, and shikimate metabolism. Selected predictions from the model are individually validated in single mutants to provide future targets for drug development. 1,342 barcoded P. berghei knockout (KO) mutants analyzed for stage-specific phenotypes Life-stage-specific metabolic models reveal reprogramming of cellular function High agreement between blood/liver stage metabolic models and genetic screening data Essential metabolic pathways for parasite development and mechanistic origin revealed
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca R Stanway
- Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
| | - Ellen Bushell
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK; Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Umeå 901 87, Sweden
| | - Anush Chiappino-Pepe
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Magali Roques
- Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
| | - Theo Sanderson
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Blandine Franke-Fayard
- Leiden Malaria Research Group, Parasitology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden 2333ZA, the Netherlands
| | - Reto Caldelari
- Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
| | | | - Mary Nyonda
- Department of Microbiology & Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Vikash Pandey
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland; Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Umeå 901 87, Sweden
| | - Frank Schwach
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Séverine Chevalley
- Leiden Malaria Research Group, Parasitology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden 2333ZA, the Netherlands
| | - Jai Ramesar
- Leiden Malaria Research Group, Parasitology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden 2333ZA, the Netherlands
| | - Tom Metcalf
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Colin Herd
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Paul-Christian Burda
- Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland; Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg 20359, Germany
| | - Julian C Rayner
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK; Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2, 0XY, UK
| | - Dominique Soldati-Favre
- Department of Microbiology & Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Chris J Janse
- Leiden Malaria Research Group, Parasitology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden 2333ZA, the Netherlands
| | - Vassily Hatzimanikatis
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Oliver Billker
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK; Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Umeå 901 87, Sweden.
| | - Volker T Heussler
- Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland.
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21
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Innovative Alternatives for Continuous In Vitro Culture of Babesia bigemina in Medium Free of Components of Animal Origin. Pathogens 2020; 9:pathogens9050343. [PMID: 32370024 PMCID: PMC7281159 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens9050343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2020] [Revised: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, we report Babesia bigemina proliferation in culture medium free of components of animal origin supplemented with a lipid mixture. Babesia bigemina continuously proliferated in VP-SFM with a higher percent parasitized erythrocyte as compare to using other animal component-free culture media. Compared with Advanced DMEM/F12 (ADMEM/F12), VP-SFM had a similar percent parasitized erythrocyte (PPE). Supplementation of VP-SF with a lipid acid mixture improved B. bigemina proliferation in vitro culture, with a maximum PPE of 11.3%. Growth of B. bigemina in a perfusion bioreactor using VP-SFM medium supplemented with lipid mixture resulted in a PPE above 28%. In conclusion, we demonstrated that B. bigemina proliferated in an animal component-free medium supplemented with the fatty acid mixture. This innovation to B. bigeminain vitro culture method presented herein is an important source of biological material for live vaccine production and understanding the mechanisms and molecules involved in parasite attachment and invasion of bovine erythrocytes.
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Division and Adaptation to Host Environment of Apicomplexan Parasites Depend on Apicoplast Lipid Metabolic Plasticity and Host Organelle Remodeling. Cell Rep 2020; 30:3778-3792.e9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.02.072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Revised: 11/12/2019] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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Flammersfeld A, Panyot A, Yamaryo-Botté Y, Aurass P, Przyborski JM, Flieger A, Botté C, Pradel G. A patatin-like phospholipase functions during gametocyte induction in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Cell Microbiol 2019; 22:e13146. [PMID: 31734953 DOI: 10.1111/cmi.13146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2019] [Revised: 10/28/2019] [Accepted: 11/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Patatin-like phospholipases (PNPLAs) are highly conserved enzymes of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms with major roles in lipid homeostasis. The genome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum encodes four putative PNPLAs with predicted functions during phospholipid degradation. We here investigated the role of one of the plasmodial PNPLAs, a putative PLA2 termed PNPLA1, during blood stage replication and gametocyte development. PNPLA1 is present in the asexual and sexual blood stages and here localizes to the cytoplasm. PNPLA1-deficiency due to gene disruption or conditional gene-knockdown had no effect on intraerythrocytic growth, gametocyte development and gametogenesis. However, parasites lacking PNPLA1 were impaired in gametocyte induction, while PNPLA1 overexpression promotes gametocyte formation. The loss of PNPLA1 further leads to transcriptional down-regulation of genes related to gametocytogenesis, including the gene encoding the sexual commitment regulator AP2-G. Additionally, lipidomics of PNPLA1-deficient asexual blood stage parasites revealed overall increased levels of major phospholipids, including phosphatidylcholine (PC), which is a substrate of PLA2 . PC synthesis is known to be pivotal for erythrocytic replication, while the reduced availability of PC precursors drives the parasite into gametocytogenesis; we thus hypothesize that the higher PC levels due to PNPLA1-deficiency prevent the blood stage parasites from entering the sexual pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ansgar Flammersfeld
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Atscharah Panyot
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Yoshiki Yamaryo-Botté
- ApicoLipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Université Grenoble Alpes, La Tronche, France
| | - Philipp Aurass
- Centre for Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jude M Przyborski
- Division of Enteropathogenic Bacteria and Legionella, Robert Koch-Institute, Wernigerode, Germany
| | - Antje Flieger
- Centre for Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Cyrille Botté
- ApicoLipid Team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Université Grenoble Alpes, La Tronche, France
| | - Gabriele Pradel
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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Tanaka TQ, Tokuoka SM, Nakatani D, Hamano F, Kawazu SI, Wellems TE, Kita K, Shimizu T, Tokumasu F. Polyunsaturated fatty acids promote Plasmodium falciparum gametocytogenesis. Biol Open 2019; 8:bio.042259. [PMID: 31221627 PMCID: PMC6679406 DOI: 10.1242/bio.042259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The molecular triggers of sexual differentiation into gametocytes by blood stage Plasmodium falciparum, the most malignant human malaria parasites, are subject of much investigation for potential transmission-blocking strategies. The parasites are readily grown in vitro with culture media supplemented by the addition of human serum (10%) or by a commercially available substitute (0.5% AlbuMAX). We found better gametocytemia with serum than AlbuMAX, suggesting suboptimal concentrations of some components in the commercial product; consistent with this hypothesis, substantial concentration differences of multiple fatty acids were detected between serum- and AlbuMAX-supplemented media. Mass spectroscopy analysis distinguished the lipid profiles of gametocyte- and asexual stage-parasite membranes. Delivery of various combinations of unsaturated fatty-acid-containing phospholipids to AlbuMAX-supported gametocyte cultures improved gametocyte production to the levels achieved with human-serum-supplemented media. Maturing gametocytes readily incorporated externally supplied d5-labeled glycerol with fatty acids into unsaturated phospholipids. Phospholipids identified in this work thus may be taken up from extracellular sources or generated internally for important steps of gametocyte development. Further study of polyunsaturated fatty-acid metabolism and phospholipid profiles will improve understanding of gametocyte development and malaria parasite transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takeshi Q Tanaka
- International Medical Zoology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, 761-0793, Japan.,Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Vector Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-8132, USA.,Research Unit of Advanced Preventive Medicine, National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan
| | - Suzumi M Tokuoka
- Department of Lipidomics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 103-0033, Japan
| | - Daichi Nakatani
- Research Unit of Advanced Preventive Medicine, National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan
| | - Fumie Hamano
- Lipid Signaling Project, Research Institute National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan
| | - Shin-Ichiro Kawazu
- Research Unit of Advanced Preventive Medicine, National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan
| | - Thomas E Wellems
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Vector Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-8132, USA
| | - Kiyoshi Kita
- School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8523, Japan
| | - Takao Shimizu
- Department of Lipidomics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 103-0033, Japan.,Lipid Signaling Project, Research Institute National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan
| | - Fuyuki Tokumasu
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Vector Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-8132, USA .,Department of Lipidomics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 103-0033, Japan
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Kumar A, Ghosh DK, Ali J, Ranjan A. Characterization of Lipid Binding Properties of Plasmodium falciparum Acyl-Coenzyme A Binding Proteins and Their Competitive Inhibition by Mefloquine. ACS Chem Biol 2019; 14:901-915. [PMID: 30986346 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.9b00003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Malaria remains a worldwide concern in terms of morbidity and mortality. Limited understanding of the Plasmodium proteome makes it challenging to control malaria. Understanding of the expression and functions of different Plasmodium proteins will help in knowing this organism's virulence properties, besides facilitating the drug development process. In this study, we characterize the lipid binding and biophysical properties of the putative Plasmodium falciparum acyl-CoA binding proteins (PfACBPs), which may have intriguing functions in different stages of P. falciparum life cycle. While the PfACBPs can bind to long-chain fatty acyl-CoAs with high affinity, their affinity for short-chain fatty acyl-CoAs is weak. Base-stacking, electrostatic, and hydrophobic interactions between the aromatic rings, charged groups or residues, and hydrophobic chains or residues are responsible for acyl-CoA binding to PfACBPs. PfACBPs can also bind to phospholipids. PfACBPs cannot bind to the fatty acids and unphosphorylated fatty acid esters. PfACBPs are globular-helical proteins that contain a conserved acyl-CoA binding region. They exist in folded or unfolded conformations without attaining any intermediate state. In a systematic high-throughput in silico screening, mefloquine is identified as a potential ligand of PfACBPs. Binding affinities of mefloquine are much higher than those of fatty acyl-CoAs for all PfACBPs. Mefloquine binds to the acyl-CoA binding pocket of PfACBPs, thereby engaging many of the critical residues. Thus, mefloquine acts as a competitive inhibitor against fatty acyl-CoA binding to PfACBPs, leading to the prevention of P. falciparum growth and proliferation. Taken together, our study characterizes the functions of annotated PfACBPs and highlights the mechanistic details of their inactivation by mefloquine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhishek Kumar
- Computational and Functional Genomics Group Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics Uppal, Hyderabad, Telangana 500039, India
- Graduate studies, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India
| | - Debasish Kumar Ghosh
- Computational and Functional Genomics Group Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics Uppal, Hyderabad, Telangana 500039, India
- Graduate studies, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India
| | - Jamshaid Ali
- Computational and Functional Genomics Group Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics Uppal, Hyderabad, Telangana 500039, India
- Graduate studies, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India
- Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695014, India
| | - Akash Ranjan
- Computational and Functional Genomics Group Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics Uppal, Hyderabad, Telangana 500039, India
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The effect of dietary antioxidant supplementation in a vertebrate host on the infection dynamics and transmission of avian malaria to the vector. Parasitol Res 2018; 117:2043-2052. [PMID: 29744700 PMCID: PMC6006207 DOI: 10.1007/s00436-018-5869-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2017] [Accepted: 04/06/2018] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Host susceptibility to parasites is likely to be influenced by intrinsic factors, such as host oxidative status determined by the balance between pro-oxidant production and antioxidant defences. As a result, host oxidative status acts as an environmental factor for parasites and may constrain parasite development. We evaluated the role of host oxidative status on infection dynamics of an avian malarial parasite by providing canaries (Serinus canaria) with an antioxidant supplementation composed of vitamin E (a lipophilic antioxidant) and olive oil, a source of monounsaturated fatty acids. Another group received a standard, non-supplemented food. Half of the birds in each group where then infected with the haemosporidian parasite, Plasmodium relictum. We monitored the parasitaemia, haematocrit level, and red cell membrane resistance, as well as the transmission success of the parasite to its mosquito vector, Culex pipiens. During the acute phase, the negative effect of the infection was more severe in the supplemented group, as shown by a lower haematocrit level. Parasitaemia was lower in the supplemented group during the chronic phase only. Mosquitoes fed on supplemented hosts were more often infected than mosquitoes fed on the control group. These results suggest that dietary antioxidant supplementation conferred protection against Plasmodium in the long term, at the expense of a short-term negative effect. Malaria parasites may take advantage of antioxidants, as shown by the increased transmission rate in the supplemented group. Overall, our results suggest an important role of oxidative status in infection outcome and parasite transmission.
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27
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Abstract
Malaria parasites require certain host nutrients for growth and survival. In this project, we examined the role of the human vitamin biotin in all stages of the malaria life cycle. We cultured blood- and liver-stage malaria parasites in the absence of biotin and found that, whereas blood-stage replication was unaffected, liver-stage parasites deprived of biotin were no longer capable of establishing a blood-stage infection. Interestingly, biotin depletion resulted in more severe developmental defects than the genetic disruption of parasite biotin metabolism. This finding suggests that host biotin metabolism also contributes to parasite development. Because neither the parasite nor the human host can synthesize biotin, parasite infectivity may be affected by the nutritional status of the host. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) is a biotin-dependent enzyme that is the target of several classes of herbicides. Malaria parasites contain a plant-like ACC, and this is the only protein predicted to be biotinylated in the parasite. We found that ACC is expressed in the apicoplast organelle in liver- and blood-stage malaria parasites; however, it is activated through biotinylation only in the liver stages. Consistent with this observation, deletion of the biotin ligase responsible for ACC biotinylation does not impede blood-stage growth, but results in late liver-stage developmental defects. Biotin depletion increases the severity of the developmental defects, demonstrating that parasite and host biotin metabolism are required for normal liver-stage progression. This finding may link the development of liver-stage malaria parasites to the nutritional status of the host, as neither the parasite nor the human host can synthesize biotin.
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Chiappino-Pepe A, Tymoshenko S, Ataman M, Soldati-Favre D, Hatzimanikatis V. Bioenergetics-based modeling of Plasmodium falciparum metabolism reveals its essential genes, nutritional requirements, and thermodynamic bottlenecks. PLoS Comput Biol 2017; 13:e1005397. [PMID: 28333921 PMCID: PMC5363809 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2016] [Accepted: 02/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Novel antimalarial therapies are urgently needed for the fight against drug-resistant parasites. The metabolism of malaria parasites in infected cells is an attractive source of drug targets but is rather complex. Computational methods can handle this complexity and allow integrative analyses of cell metabolism. In this study, we present a genome-scale metabolic model (iPfa) of the deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, and its thermodynamics-based flux analysis (TFA). Using previous absolute concentration data of the intraerythrocytic parasite, we applied TFA to iPfa and predicted up to 63 essential genes and 26 essential pairs of genes. Of the 63 genes, 35 have been experimentally validated and reported in the literature, and 28 have not been experimentally tested and include previously hypothesized or novel predictions of essential metabolic capabilities. Without metabolomics data, four of the genes would have been incorrectly predicted to be non-essential. TFA also indicated that substrate channeling should exist in two metabolic pathways to ensure the thermodynamic feasibility of the flux. Finally, analysis of the metabolic capabilities of P. falciparum led to the identification of both the minimal nutritional requirements and the genes that can become indispensable upon substrate inaccessibility. This model provides novel insight into the metabolic needs and capabilities of the malaria parasite and highlights metabolites and pathways that should be measured and characterized to identify potential thermodynamic bottlenecks and substrate channeling. The hypotheses presented seek to guide experimental studies to facilitate a better understanding of the parasite metabolism and the identification of targets for more efficient intervention. Almost half of the world population is at risk of infection by malaria parasites. The rise in drug-resistant parasites requires better understanding and targeting of their metabolism. In this study, we present a genome-scale metabolic reconstruction (iPfa) of the deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, and its thermodynamics-based flux analysis (TFA). Our results support and extend the available experimental evidence on the essential genes and nutritional requirements of this organism. Besides, we identify metabolites that give rise to thermodynamic bottlenecks and suggest substrate channeling. Overall, these results provide novel insight into the metabolism of P. falciparum and may guide experimental studies to develop a better characterization of the parasite metabolism and the identification of antimalarial drug targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anush Chiappino-Pepe
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Stepan Tymoshenko
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, CMU, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Meriç Ataman
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Dominique Soldati-Favre
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, CMU, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Vassily Hatzimanikatis
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
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29
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Bouazizi-Ben Messaoud H, Guichard M, Lawton P, Delton I, Azzouz-Maache S. Changes in Lipid and Fatty Acid Composition During Intramacrophagic Transformation of Leishmania donovani Complex Promastigotes into Amastigotes. Lipids 2017; 52:433-441. [PMID: 28161835 PMCID: PMC5427136 DOI: 10.1007/s11745-017-4233-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2016] [Accepted: 01/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Leishmania sp., are trypanosomatid parasites that are phagocytized by human and animal macrophages. Transformation from the vector promastigote stage to the intracellular amastigote host cell stage is mandatory, since development in the host depends on the internalization of the parasite. We identified and analyzed the lipids involved in the promastigote to amastigote transformation process in the Leishmania donovani complex. Four lipid classes, phospholipids, free fatty acids, triglycerides and sterols were studied. The derivatization method of Bligh and Dyer was used to establish the fatty acid composition in each stage of the parasite. To stay within the context of Leishmania infection, we used amastigotes extracted from macrophages after experimental in vitro infection. The purification process was checked by electronic microscopy, the absence of major contamination by host-cell debris and a correct purification yield validated our experimental model. Our results show that free fatty acids and cholesterol increased, whereas triglycerides and ergosterol decreased during the transition between promastigotes to amastigotes. With respect to phospholipid classes, we found increased proportion of sphingomyelin and phosphatidylserine and lowered proportion of phosphatidylinositol and lysophosphatidylethanolamine. Regarding fatty acid composition, a significant increase of n-7 fatty acids was observed in amastigotes. Overall, the total n-6 fatty acids were decreased in PL. Several of the changes were also observed in TG and free fatty acids. Particularly, n-7 fatty acids and 20:4n-6 were highly increased, whereas n-9 fatty acid and n-6 precursors decreased.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hana Bouazizi-Ben Messaoud
- Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), UMR InterTryp IRD/CIRAD, campus international de Baillarguet, Montpellier, France.,Department of Parasitology and Medical Mycology, Lyon University, Lyon, France.,Inserm U1060 CarMeN Laboratory, INSA-Lyon, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Marion Guichard
- Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), UMR InterTryp IRD/CIRAD, campus international de Baillarguet, Montpellier, France.,Department of Parasitology and Medical Mycology, Lyon University, Lyon, France
| | - Philippe Lawton
- Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), UMR InterTryp IRD/CIRAD, campus international de Baillarguet, Montpellier, France.,Department of Parasitology and Medical Mycology, Lyon University, Lyon, France
| | - Isabelle Delton
- Inserm U1060 CarMeN Laboratory, INSA-Lyon, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Samira Azzouz-Maache
- Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), UMR InterTryp IRD/CIRAD, campus international de Baillarguet, Montpellier, France. .,Department of Parasitology and Medical Mycology, Lyon University, Lyon, France.
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30
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Orikiiriza J, Surowiec I, Lindquist E, Bonde M, Magambo J, Muhinda C, Bergström S, Trygg J, Normark J. Lipid response patterns in acute phase paediatric Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Metabolomics 2017; 13:41. [PMID: 28286460 PMCID: PMC5323494 DOI: 10.1007/s11306-017-1174-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2016] [Accepted: 02/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Several studies have observed serum lipid changes during malaria infection in humans. All of them were focused at analysis of lipoproteins, not specific lipid molecules. The aim of our study was to identify novel patterns of lipid species in malaria infected patients using lipidomics profiling, to enhance diagnosis of malaria and to evaluate biochemical pathways activated during parasite infection. METHODS Using a multivariate characterization approach, 60 samples were representatively selected, 20 from each category (mild, severe and controls) of the 690 study participants between age of 0.5-6 years. Lipids from patient's plasma were extracted with chloroform/methanol mixture and subjected to lipid profiling with application of the LCMS-QTOF method. RESULTS We observed a structured plasma lipid response among the malaria-infected patients as compared to healthy controls, demonstrated by higher levels of a majority of plasma lipids with the exception of even-chain length lysophosphatidylcholines and triglycerides with lower mass and higher saturation of the fatty acid chains. An inverse lipid profile relationship was observed when plasma lipids were correlated to parasitaemia. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates how mapping the full physiological lipid response in plasma from malaria-infected individuals can be used to understand biochemical processes during infection. It also gives insights to how the levels of these molecules relate to acute immune responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judy Orikiiriza
- Infectious Diseases Institute, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, P.O. Box 22418, Kampala, Uganda
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, 8 Ireland
- Rwanda Military Hospital, P.O. Box: 3377, Kigali, Rwanda
| | - Izabella Surowiec
- Computational Life Science Cluster (CLiC), Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | | | - Mari Bonde
- Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Jimmy Magambo
- Rwanda Military Hospital, P.O. Box: 3377, Kigali, Rwanda
| | - Charles Muhinda
- Rwanda Military Hospital, P.O. Box: 3377, Kigali, Rwanda
- Department of Immmunology and Microbiology, School of Biomedical Sciences College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, P.O Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Sven Bergström
- Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- Umeå Center for Microbial Research, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Johan Trygg
- Computational Life Science Cluster (CLiC), Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Johan Normark
- Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- Umeå Center for Microbial Research, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
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31
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Metabolomics-Based Screening of the Malaria Box Reveals both Novel and Established Mechanisms of Action. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2016; 60:6650-6663. [PMID: 27572396 DOI: 10.1128/aac.01226-16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2016] [Accepted: 08/16/2016] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
High-throughput phenotypic screening of chemical libraries has resulted in the identification of thousands of compounds with potent antimalarial activity, although in most cases, the mechanism(s) of action of these compounds remains unknown. Here we have investigated the mode of action of 90 antimalarial compounds derived from the Malaria Box collection using high-coverage, untargeted metabolomics analysis. Approximately half of the tested compounds induced significant metabolic perturbations in in vitro cultures of Plasmodium falciparum In most cases, the metabolic profiles were highly correlated with known antimalarials, in particular artemisinin, the 4-aminoquinolines, or atovaquone. Select Malaria Box compounds also induced changes in intermediates in essential metabolic pathways, such as isoprenoid biosynthesis (i.e., 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate) and linolenic acid metabolism (i.e., traumatic acid). This study provides a comprehensive database of the metabolic perturbations induced by chemically diverse inhibitors and highlights the utility of metabolomics for triaging new lead compounds and defining specific modes of action, which will assist with the development and optimization of new antimalarial drugs.
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32
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Shears MJ, MacRae JI, Mollard V, Goodman CD, Sturm A, Orchard LM, Llinás M, McConville MJ, Botté CY, McFadden GI. Characterization of the Plasmodium falciparum and P. berghei glycerol 3-phosphate acyltransferase involved in FASII fatty acid utilization in the malaria parasite apicoplast. Cell Microbiol 2016; 19. [PMID: 27324409 PMCID: PMC5213128 DOI: 10.1111/cmi.12633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2016] [Revised: 06/11/2016] [Accepted: 06/17/2016] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Malaria parasites can synthesize fatty acids via a type II fatty acid synthesis (FASII) pathway located in their apicoplast. The FASII pathway has been pursued as an anti‐malarial drug target, but surprisingly little is known about its role in lipid metabolism. Here we characterize the apicoplast glycerol 3‐phosphate acyltransferase that acts immediately downstream of FASII in human (Plasmodium falciparum) and rodent (Plasmodium berghei) malaria parasites and investigate how this enzyme contributes to incorporating FASII fatty acids into precursors for membrane lipid synthesis. Apicoplast targeting of the P. falciparum and P. berghei enzymes are confirmed by fusion of the N‐terminal targeting sequence to GFP and 3′ tagging of the full length protein. Activity of the P. falciparum enzyme is demonstrated by complementation in mutant bacteria, and critical residues in the putative active site identified by site‐directed mutagenesis. Genetic disruption of the P. falciparum enzyme demonstrates it is dispensable in blood stage parasites, even in conditions known to induce FASII activity. Disruption of the P. berghei enzyme demonstrates it is dispensable in blood and mosquito stage parasites, and only essential for development in the late liver stage, consistent with the requirement for FASII in rodent malaria models. However, the P. berghei mutant liver stage phenotype is found to only partially phenocopy loss of FASII, suggesting newly made fatty acids can take multiple pathways out of the apicoplast and so giving new insight into the role of FASII and apicoplast glycerol 3‐phosphate acyltransferase in malaria parasites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melanie J Shears
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia.,Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, United States
| | - James I MacRae
- The Francis Crick Institute, Metabolomics, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London, NW7 1AA, United Kingdom
| | - Vanessa Mollard
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | | | - Angelika Sturm
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Lindsey M Orchard
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry and Center for Malaria Research, Pennsylvania State University, State College, University Park, PA, 16802, United States
| | - Manuel Llinás
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry and Center for Malaria Research, Pennsylvania State University, State College, University Park, PA, 16802, United States
| | - Malcolm J McConville
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Cyrille Y Botté
- Apicolipid team, Institute for Advanced Biosciences UMR CNRS5309 INSMERM U1209, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
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Singh K, Agarwal A, Khan SI, Walker LA, Tekwani BL. Growth, Drug Susceptibility, and Gene Expression Profiling of Plasmodium falciparum Cultured in Medium Supplemented with Human Serum. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 12:1109-14. [DOI: 10.1177/1087057107310638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In vitro cultivation of Plasmodium falciparum has been extremely useful in understanding the biology of the human malaria parasite as well as research on the discovery of new antimalarial drugs and vaccines. A chemically defined serum-free medium supplemented with lipid-rich bovine serum albumin (AlbuMAX I) offers the following advantages over human serum-supplemented media for the in vitro culture of P. falciparum: 1) improved growth profile, with more than a 2-fold higher yield of the parasites at any stage of the growth cycle; 2) suitability for in vitro antimalarial screening, as the parasites grown in AlbuMAX and human serum-supplemented media show similar sensitivity to standard and novel antimalarials as well as natural product extracts in the in vitro drug susceptibility assays; and 3) DNA microarray analysis comparing the global gene expression profile of sorbitol-synchronized P. falciparum trophozoites grown in the 2 different media, indicating minimal differences. ( Journal of Biomolecular Screening 2007:1109-1114)
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Affiliation(s)
- Kshipra Singh
- National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, Gastroenterology Division, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Ameeta Agarwal
- National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi
| | - Shabana I. Khan
- National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi
| | - Larry A. Walker
- National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi
| | - Babu L. Tekwani
- National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi,
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Ghosh S, Sengupta A, Sharma S, Sonawat HM. Early prediction of cerebral malaria by (1)H NMR based metabolomics. Malar J 2016; 15:198. [PMID: 27066781 PMCID: PMC4828763 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-016-1256-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2015] [Accepted: 03/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cerebral malaria (CM) is a life-threatening disease, caused mainly by Plasmodium falciparum in humans. In adults only 1-2% of P. falciparum-infected hosts transit to the cerebral form of the disease while most exhibit non-cerebral malaria (NCM). The perturbed metabolic pathways of CM and NCM have been reported. Early marker(s) of CM is(are) not known and by the time a patient exhibits the pathological symptoms of CM, the disease has progressed. Murine CM, like the human disease, is difficult to assign to specific animals at early stage and hence the challenge to treat CM at pre-clinical stage of the disease. This is the first report of prediction of CM in mice using a novel strategy based on (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics. METHODS Mice were infected with malarial parasites, and serum was collected from all the animals (CM/NCM) before CM symptoms were apparent. The assignment of mice as NCM/CM at an early time point is based on their symptoms at days 8-9 post-infection (pi). The serum samples were subjected to (1)H NMR-based metabolomics. (1)H NMR spectra of the serum samples, collected at various time points (pi) in multiple sets of experiments, were subjected to multivariate analyses. RESULTS The results from orthogonal partial least square discriminant analyses (OPLS-DA) suggest that the animals with CM start to diverge out in metabolic profile and were distinct on day 4 pi, although by physical observation they were indistinguishable from the NCM. The metabolites that appeared to contribute to this distinction were serum lipids and lipoproteins, and 14-19% enhancement was observed in mice afflicted with CM. A cut-off of 14% change of total lipoproteins in serum predicts 54-71% CM in different experiments at day 4 pi. CONCLUSION This study clearly demonstrates the possibility of differentiating and identifying animals with CM at an early, pre-clinical stage. The strategy, based on metabolite profile of serum, tested with different batches of animals in both the sex and across different times of the year, is found to be robust. This is the first such study of pre-clinical prognosis of CM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soumita Ghosh
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1-Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai, 400 005, India
| | - Arjun Sengupta
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1-Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai, 400 005, India
| | - Shobhona Sharma
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1-Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai, 400 005, India.
| | - Haripalsingh M Sonawat
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1-Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai, 400 005, India.
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Subudhi AK, Boopathi PA, Pandey I, Kaur R, Middha S, Acharya J, Kochar SK, Kochar DK, Das A. Disease specific modules and hub genes for intervention strategies: A co-expression network based approach for Plasmodium falciparum clinical isolates. INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION 2015; 35:96-108. [PMID: 26247716 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2015.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2015] [Revised: 07/29/2015] [Accepted: 08/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Systems biology approaches that are based on gene expression and bioinformatics analysis have been successful in predicting the functions of many genes in Plasmodium falciparum, a protozoan parasite responsible for most of the deaths due to malaria. However, approaches that can provide information about the biological processes that are active in this parasite in vivo during complicated malaria conditions have been scarcely deployed. Here we report the analysis of a weighted gene co-expression based network for P. falciparum, from non-cerebral clinical complications. Gene expression profiles of 20 P. falciparum clinical isolates were utilized to construct the same. A total of 20 highly interacting modules were identified post network creation. In 12 of these modules, at least 10% of the member genes, were found to be differentially regulated in parasites from patient isolates showing complications, when compared with those from patients with uncomplicated disease. Enrichment analysis helped identify biological processes like oxidation-reduction, electron transport chain, protein synthesis, ubiquitin dependent catabolic processes, RNA binding and purine nucleotide metabolic processes as associated with these modules. Additionally, for each module, highly connected hub genes were identified. Detailed functional analysis of many of these, which have known annotated functions underline their importance in parasite development and survival. This suggests, that other hub genes with unknown functions may also be playing crucial roles in parasite biology, and, are potential candidates for intervention strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit Kumar Subudhi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan, India.
| | - Pon Arunachalam Boopathi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan, India.
| | - Isha Pandey
- Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan, India.
| | - Ramandeep Kaur
- Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan, India.
| | - Sheetal Middha
- Department of Medicine, S.P. Medical College, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.
| | - Jyoti Acharya
- Department of Medicine, S.P. Medical College, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.
| | - Sanjay K Kochar
- Department of Medicine, S.P. Medical College, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.
| | - Dhanpat K Kochar
- Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
| | - Ashis Das
- Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan, India.
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Fatty acid metabolism in the Plasmodium apicoplast: Drugs, doubts and knockouts. Mol Biochem Parasitol 2015; 199:34-50. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2015.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2015] [Revised: 03/16/2015] [Accepted: 03/17/2015] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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Lamour SD, Straschil U, Saric J, Delves MJ. Changes in metabolic phenotypes of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro cultures during gametocyte development. Malar J 2014; 13:468. [PMID: 25439984 PMCID: PMC4289216 DOI: 10.1186/1475-2875-13-468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2014] [Accepted: 11/24/2014] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Gametocytes are the Plasmodium life stage that is solely responsible for malaria transmission. Despite their important role in perpetuating malaria, gametocyte differentiation and development is poorly understood. Methods To shed light on the biochemical changes that occur during asexual and gametocyte development, metabolic characterization of media from in vitro intra-erythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum cultures was performed throughout gametocyte development by applying 1H nuclear magnetic spectroscopy, and using sham erythrocyte cultures as controls. Spectral differences between parasite and sham cultures were assessed via principal component analyses and partial-least squares analyses, and univariate statistical methods. Results Clear parasite-associated changes in metabolism were observed throughout the culture period, revealing differences between asexual parasites and gametocyte stages. With culture progression and development of gametocytes, parasitic release of the glycolytic end products lactate, pyruvate, alanine, and glycerol, were found to be dramatically reduced whilst acetate release was greatly increased. Also, uptake of lipid moieties CH2, CH3, and CH = CH-CH2-CH2 increased throughout gametocyte development, peaking with maturity. Conclusions This study uniquely presents an initial characterization of the metabolic exchange between parasite and culture medium during in vitro P. falciparum gametocyte culture. Results suggest that energy metabolism and lipid utilization between the asexual stages and gametocytes is different. This study provides new insights for gametocyte-specific nutritional requirements to aid future optimization and standardization of in vitro gametocyte cultivation, and highlights areas of novel gametocyte cell biology that deserve to be studied in greater detail and may yield new targets for transmission-blocking drugs. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1475-2875-13-468) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Michael J Delves
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
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Exploring Drug Targets in Isoprenoid Biosynthetic Pathway for Plasmodium falciparum. Biochem Res Int 2014; 2014:657189. [PMID: 24864210 PMCID: PMC4017727 DOI: 10.1155/2014/657189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2013] [Revised: 02/07/2014] [Accepted: 02/07/2014] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Emergence of rapid drug resistance to existing antimalarial drugs in Plasmodium falciparum has created the need for prediction of novel targets as well as leads derived from original molecules with improved activity against a validated drug target. The malaria parasite has a plant plastid-like apicoplast. To overcome the problem of falciparum malaria, the metabolic pathways in parasite apicoplast have been used as antimalarial drug targets. Among several pathways in apicoplast, isoprenoid biosynthesis is one of the important pathways for parasite as its multiplication in human erythrocytes requires isoprenoids. Therefore targeting this pathway and exploring leads with improved activity is a highly attractive approach. This report has explored progress towards the study of proteins and inhibitors of isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway. For more comprehensive analysis, antimalarial drug-protein interaction has been covered.
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Goodman CD, Mollard V, Louie T, Holloway GA, Watson KG, McFadden GI. Apicoplast acetyl Co-A carboxylase of the human malaria parasite is not targeted by cyclohexanedione herbicides. Int J Parasitol 2014; 44:285-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2014.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2013] [Revised: 12/22/2013] [Accepted: 01/07/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Discovery of compounds blocking the proliferation of Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum in a chemical space based on piperidinyl-benzimidazolone analogs. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2014; 58:2586-97. [PMID: 24550329 DOI: 10.1128/aac.01445-13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
A piperidinyl-benzimidazolone scaffold has been found in the structure of different inhibitors of membrane glycerolipid metabolism, acting on enzymes manipulating diacylglycerol and phosphatidic acid. Screening a focus library of piperidinyl-benzimidazolone analogs might therefore identify compounds acting against infectious parasites. We first evaluated the in vitro effects of (S)-2-(dibenzylamino)-3-phenylpropyl 4-(1,2-dihydro-2-oxobenzo[d]imidazol-3-yl)piperidine-1-carboxylate (compound 1) on Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum. In T. gondii, motility and apical complex integrity appeared to be unaffected, whereas cell division was inhibited at compound 1 concentrations in the micromolar range. In P. falciparum, the proliferation of erythrocytic stages was inhibited, without any delayed death phenotype. We then explored a library of 250 analogs in two steps. We selected 114 compounds with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) cutoff of 2 μM for at least one species and determined in vitro selectivity indexes (SI) based on toxicity against K-562 human cells. We identified compounds with high gains in the IC50 (in the 100 nM range) and SI (up to 1,000 to 2,000) values. Isobole analyses of two of the most active compounds against P. falciparum indicated that their interactions with artemisinin were additive. Here, we propose the use of structure-activity relationship (SAR) models, which will be useful for designing probes to identify the target compound(s) and optimizations for monotherapy or combined-therapy strategies.
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Cobbold SA, Vaughan AM, Lewis IA, Painter HJ, Camargo N, Perlman DH, Fishbaugher M, Healer J, Cowman AF, Kappe SHI, Llinás M. Kinetic flux profiling elucidates two independent acetyl-CoA biosynthetic pathways in Plasmodium falciparum. J Biol Chem 2013; 288:36338-50. [PMID: 24163372 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m113.503557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum depends on glucose to meet its energy requirements during blood-stage development. Although glycolysis is one of the best understood pathways in the parasite, it is unclear if glucose metabolism appreciably contributes to the acetyl-CoA pools required for tricarboxylic acid metabolism (TCA) cycle and fatty acid biosynthesis. P. falciparum possesses a pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex that is localized to the apicoplast, a specialized quadruple membrane organelle, suggesting that separate acetyl-CoA pools are likely. Herein, we analyze PDH-deficient parasites using rapid stable-isotope labeling and show that PDH does not appreciably contribute to acetyl-CoA synthesis, tricarboxylic acid metabolism, or fatty acid synthesis in blood stage parasites. Rather, we find that acetyl-CoA demands are supplied through a "PDH-like" enzyme and provide evidence that the branched-chain keto acid dehydrogenase (BCKDH) complex is performing this function. We also show that acetyl-CoA synthetase can be a significant contributor to acetyl-CoA biosynthesis. Interestingly, the PDH-like pathway contributes glucose-derived acetyl-CoA to the TCA cycle in a stage-independent process, whereas anapleurotic carbon enters the TCA cycle via a stage-dependent phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase/phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase process that decreases as the parasite matures. Although PDH-deficient parasites have no blood-stage growth defect, they are unable to progress beyond the oocyst phase of the parasite mosquito stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon A Cobbold
- From the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania 16802
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Lipid synthesis in protozoan parasites: a comparison between kinetoplastids and apicomplexans. Prog Lipid Res 2013; 52:488-512. [PMID: 23827884 DOI: 10.1016/j.plipres.2013.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2013] [Revised: 06/16/2013] [Accepted: 06/17/2013] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Lipid metabolism is of crucial importance for pathogens. Lipids serve as cellular building blocks, signalling molecules, energy stores, posttranslational modifiers, and pathogenesis factors. Parasites rely on a complex system of uptake and synthesis mechanisms to satisfy their lipid needs. The parameters of this system change dramatically as the parasite transits through the various stages of its life cycle. Here we discuss the tremendous recent advances that have been made in the understanding of the synthesis and uptake pathways for fatty acids and phospholipids in apicomplexan and kinetoplastid parasites, including Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium, Trypanosoma and Leishmania. Lipid synthesis differs in significant ways between parasites from both phyla and the human host. Parasites have acquired novel pathways through endosymbiosis, as in the case of the apicoplast, have dramatically reshaped substrate and product profiles, and have evolved specialized lipids to interact with or manipulate the host. These differences potentially provide opportunities for drug development. We outline the lipid pathways for key species in detail as they progress through the developmental cycle and highlight those that are of particular importance to the biology of the pathogens and/or are the most promising targets for parasite-specific treatment.
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Modulation of Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels in Plasmodium berghei Malarial Infection by Crude Aqueous Extract of Ganoderma lucidum. CHOLESTEROL 2012; 2012:536396. [PMID: 22888413 PMCID: PMC3410371 DOI: 10.1155/2012/536396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2012] [Revised: 06/12/2012] [Accepted: 06/18/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
In this study, attempt is made to establish changes in serum and liver lipoprotein cholesterols accompanying Plasmodium berghei malarial infection in mice treated with aqueous extract of Ganoderma lucidum at 100, 250, and 500 mg/kg body weight in comparison with 15 mg/kg chloroquine (CQ). Significant increases in all the lipoprotein fractions were observed in infected untreated mice compared with normal control mice. Treatment with 100 and 250 mg/kg G. lucidum extract produced significant reduction in serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density cholesterol (LDL-C) contents compared with 500 mg/kg G. lucidum and CQ. Treatment with CQ, however, produced significant reduction in hepatic TC and LDL-C compared with the extract. A dose-dependent significant increase in serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was observed in the G. lucidum treated mice compared with normal control but significantly lower compared with CQ-treated mice. Liver HDL-C level was significantly higher in CQ-treated mice compared with normal control and significantly lower compared with G. lucidum-treated and infected untreated mice. A dose-dependent effect of the extract was observed in both serum and liver very-low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C). The implication of these results is discussed with respect to the parasite survival and proliferation in the serum and liver.
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Lakshmanan V, Rhee KY, Wang W, Yu Y, Khafizov K, Fiser A, Wu P, Ndir O, Mboup S, Ndiaye D, Daily JP. Metabolomic analysis of patient plasma yields evidence of plant-like α-linolenic acid metabolism in Plasmodium falciparum. J Infect Dis 2012; 206:238-48. [PMID: 22566569 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jis339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Metabolomics offers a powerful means to investigate human malaria parasite biology and host-parasite interactions at the biochemical level, and to discover novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers of infection. Here, we used an approach based on liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to perform an untargeted metabolomic analysis of metabolite extracts from Plasmodium falciparum-infected and uninfected patient plasma samples, and from an enriched population of in vitro cultured P. falciparum-infected and uninfected erythrocytes. Statistical modeling robustly segregated infected and uninfected samples based on metabolite species with significantly different abundances. Metabolites of the α-linolenic acid (ALA) pathway, known to exist in plants but not known to exist in P. falciparum until now, were enriched in infected plasma and erythrocyte samples. In vitro labeling with (13)C-ALA showed evidence of plant-like ALA pathway intermediates in P. falciparum. Ortholog searches using ALA pathway enzyme sequences from 8 available plant genomes identified several genes in the P. falciparum genome that were predicted to potentially encode the corresponding enzymes in the hitherto unannotated P. falciparum pathway. These data suggest that our approach can be used to discover novel facets of host/malaria parasite biology in a high-throughput manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viswanathan Lakshmanan
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York, USA.
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Abstract
The in vitro cultivation of Plasmodium falciparum is absolutely essential for the molecular dissection of parasite biology and still poses several challenges. The dependence on, and interaction with host red blood cells, the tightly regulated stage-specific expression of proteins, and the parasite peculiar demands on nutrients and gaseous environments are only a few aspects that need to be addressed to successfully cultivate P. falciparum in vitro. In this chapter, we present techniques for normal maintenance of the erythrocytic stages of P. falciparum cultures, their synchronization and the generation of clonal cell lines.
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Plata G, Hsiao TL, Olszewski KL, Llinás M, Vitkup D. Reconstruction and flux-balance analysis of the Plasmodium falciparum metabolic network. Mol Syst Biol 2010; 6:408. [PMID: 20823846 PMCID: PMC2964117 DOI: 10.1038/msb.2010.60] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2010] [Accepted: 07/09/2010] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome-scale metabolic reconstructions can serve as important tools for hypothesis generation and high-throughput data integration. Here, we present a metabolic network reconstruction and flux-balance analysis (FBA) of Plasmodium falciparum, the primary agent of malaria. The compartmentalized metabolic network accounts for 1001 reactions and 616 metabolites. Enzyme-gene associations were established for 366 genes and 75% of all enzymatic reactions. Compared with other microbes, the P. falciparum metabolic network contains a relatively high number of essential genes, suggesting little redundancy of the parasite metabolism. The model was able to reproduce phenotypes of experimental gene knockout and drug inhibition assays with up to 90% accuracy. Moreover, using constraints based on gene-expression data, the model was able to predict the direction of concentration changes for external metabolites with 70% accuracy. Using FBA of the reconstructed network, we identified 40 enzymatic drug targets (i.e. in silico essential genes), with no or very low sequence identity to human proteins. To demonstrate that the model can be used to make clinically relevant predictions, we experimentally tested one of the identified drug targets, nicotinate mononucleotide adenylyltransferase, using a recently discovered small-molecule inhibitor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Germán Plata
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Columbia University, New York City, NY 10032, USA
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Asahi H, Izumiyama S, Tolba MEM, Kwansa-Bentum B. Plasmodium falciparum: differing effects of non-esterified fatty acids and phospholipids on intraerythrocytic growth in serum-free medium. Exp Parasitol 2010; 127:708-13. [PMID: 21095186 DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2010.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2009] [Revised: 11/04/2010] [Accepted: 11/10/2010] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Different combinations of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) had variable effects on intraerythrocytic growth of Plasmodium falciparum. All stages of the parasite cultured in medium supplemented with cis-9-octadecenoic acid (C18:1-cis-9), hexadecanoic acid (C16:0), phospholipids (Pld) and bovine albumin free of NEFA were similar to those grown in complete growth medium. Three typical growth patterns indicating suppressed schizogony (SS), suppressed formation of merozoites (SMF), and inhibited invasion of merozoites (IMI) resulted from culture in other combinations of lipids. Unsaturated or saturated NEFA with longer or shorter carbon chains than C18:1-cis-9 or C16:0, higher degree of unsaturation, and trans-forms mainly resulted in SS and SMF effects. However, IMI or partial IMI was observed with tetradecanoic acid or octadecanoic acid enriched with C18:1-cis-9, and cis-9-hexadecenoic acid plus C16:0. Isoforms of C18:1-cis-9 also mainly resulted in partial IMI. SMF also occurred with C18:1-cis-9 plus C16:0 in the absence of Pld. Thus different NEFA exerted distinct roles in erythrocytic growth of the parasite by sustaining development at different stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiroko Asahi
- Department of Parasitology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 23-1 Toyama 1-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan.
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Metabolomics and malaria biology. Mol Biochem Parasitol 2010; 175:104-11. [PMID: 20970461 DOI: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2010.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2010] [Revised: 09/29/2010] [Accepted: 09/30/2010] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Metabolomics has ushered in a novel and multi-disciplinary realm in biological research. It has provided researchers with a platform to combine powerful biochemical, statistical, computational, and bioinformatics techniques to delve into the mysteries of biology and disease. The application of metabolomics to study malaria parasites represents a major advance in our approach towards gaining a more comprehensive perspective on parasite biology and disease etiology. This review attempts to highlight some of the important aspects of the field of metabolomics, and its ongoing and potential future applications to malaria research.
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Olszewski KL, Llinás M. Central carbon metabolism of Plasmodium parasites. Mol Biochem Parasitol 2010; 175:95-103. [PMID: 20849882 DOI: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2010.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2010] [Revised: 09/01/2010] [Accepted: 09/02/2010] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The central role of metabolic perturbation to the pathology of malaria, the promise of antimetabolites as antimalarial drugs and a basic scientific interest in understanding this fascinating example of highly divergent microbial metabolism has spurred a major and concerted research effort towards elucidating the metabolic network of the Plasmodium parasites. Central carbon metabolism, broadly comprising the flow of carbon from nutrients into biomass, has been a particular focus due to clear and early indications that it plays an essential role in this network. Decades of painstaking efforts have significantly clarified our understanding of these pathways of carbon flux, and this foundational knowledge, coupled with the advent of advanced analytical technologies, have set the stage for the development of a holistic, network-level model of plasmodial carbon metabolism. In this review we summarize the current state of knowledge regarding central carbon metabolism and suggest future avenues of research. We focus primarily on the blood stages of Plasmodium falciparum, the most lethal of the human malaria parasites, but also integrate results from simian, avian and rodent models of malaria that were a major focus of early investigations into plasmodial metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kellen L Olszewski
- Department of Molecular Biology & Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
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Olszewski KL, Mather MW, Morrisey JM, Garcia BA, Vaidya AB, Rabinowitz JD, Llinás M. Branched tricarboxylic acid metabolism in Plasmodium falciparum. Nature 2010; 466:774-8. [PMID: 20686576 PMCID: PMC2917841 DOI: 10.1038/nature09301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2010] [Accepted: 06/11/2010] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
A central hub of carbon metabolism is the tricarboxylic acid cycle, which serves to connect the processes of glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, respiration, amino acid synthesis and other biosynthetic pathways. The protozoan intracellular malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.), however, have long been suspected of possessing a significantly streamlined carbon metabolic network in which tricarboxylic acid metabolism plays a minor role. Blood-stage Plasmodium parasites rely almost entirely on glucose fermentation for energy and consume minimal amounts of oxygen, yet the parasite genome encodes all of the enzymes necessary for a complete tricarboxylic acid cycle. Here, by tracing (13)C-labelled compounds using mass spectrometry we show that tricarboxylic acid metabolism in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is largely disconnected from glycolysis and is organized along a fundamentally different architecture from the canonical textbook pathway. We find that this pathway is not cyclic, but rather is a branched structure in which the major carbon sources are the amino acids glutamate and glutamine. As a consequence of this branched architecture, several reactions must run in the reverse of the standard direction, thereby generating two-carbon units in the form of acetyl-coenzyme A. We further show that glutamine-derived acetyl-coenzyme A is used for histone acetylation, whereas glucose-derived acetyl-coenzyme A is used to acetylate amino sugars. Thus, the parasite has evolved two independent production mechanisms for acetyl-coenzyme A with different biological functions. These results significantly clarify our understanding of the Plasmodium metabolic network and highlight the ability of altered variants of central carbon metabolism to arise in response to unique environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kellen L. Olszewski
- Department of Molecular Biology & Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
| | - Michael W. Mather
- Center for Molecular Parasitology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129
| | - Joanne M. Morrisey
- Center for Molecular Parasitology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129
| | - Benjamin A. Garcia
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
| | - Akhil B. Vaidya
- Center for Molecular Parasitology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129
| | - Joshua D. Rabinowitz
- Department of Chemistry & Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
| | - Manuel Llinás
- Department of Molecular Biology & Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
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