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Identification of essential histidine residues involved in heme binding and Hemozoin formation in heme detoxification protein from Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: Malaria parasites digest hemoglobin within a food vacuole to supply amino acids, releasing the toxic product heme. During the detoxification, toxic free heme is converted into an insoluble crystalline form called hemozoin (Hz). Heme detoxification protein (HDP) in Plasmodium falciparum is one of the most potent of the hemozoin-producing enzymes. However, the reaction mechanisms of HDP are poorly understood. We identified the active site residues in HDP using a combination of Hz formation assay and spectroscopic characterization of mutant proteins. Replacement of the critical histidine residues His122, His172, His175, and His197 resulted in a reduction in the Hz formation activity to approximately 50% of the wild-type protein. Spectroscopic characterization of histidine-substituted mutants revealed that His122 binds heme and that His172 and His175 form a part of another heme-binding site. Our results show that the histidine residues could be present in the individual active sites and could be ligated to each heme. The interaction between heme and the histidine residues would serve as a molecular tether, allowing the proper positioning of two hemes to enable heme dimer formation. The heme dimer would act as a seed for the crystal growth of Hz in P. falciparum.

SUBMITTER: Nakatani K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4138515 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Identification of essential histidine residues involved in heme binding and Hemozoin formation in heme detoxification protein from Plasmodium falciparum.

Nakatani Keisuke K Ishikawa Haruto H Aono Shigetoshi S Mizutani Yasuhisa Y

Scientific reports 20140820

Malaria parasites digest hemoglobin within a food vacuole to supply amino acids, releasing the toxic product heme. During the detoxification, toxic free heme is converted into an insoluble crystalline form called hemozoin (Hz). Heme detoxification protein (HDP) in Plasmodium falciparum is one of the most potent of the hemozoin-producing enzymes. However, the reaction mechanisms of HDP are poorly understood. We identified the active site residues in HDP using a combination of Hz formation assay a ...[more]

PMID: 25138161

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Project description:BackgroundPlasmodium 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.ResultsHere, 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.ConclusionsWe 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.

Dataset Information

Identification of essential histidine residues involved in heme binding and Hemozoin formation in heme detoxification protein from Plasmodium falciparum.

Publications

Identification of essential histidine residues involved in heme binding and Hemozoin formation in heme detoxification protein from Plasmodium falciparum.

Similar Datasets

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