Gender-related secretome of Plasmodium berghei sexual stages

ABSTRACT: Plasmodium, the malaria parasite, undergoes a complex life cycle, which alternates between a vertebrate host and a mosquito vector of the genus Anopheles. In red blood cells of the vertebrate host, Plasmodium multiplies asexually or differentiates into gamete precursors, the male and female gametocytes, responsible for parasite transmission. Sexual stage maturation occurs in the midgut of the mosquito vector, where male and female gametes egress from the host erythrocyte to form a zygote. Gamete egress entails the successive rupture of two membranes surrounding the parasite, the parasitophorous vacuole membrane and the erythrocyte plasma membrane. In this study, we applied a proteomic approach to identify proteins differentially released/secreted by female and male gametocytes of the rodent Plasmodium berghei activated to form gametes. We compared secreted molecules of the wild type gametocytes with those of a transgenic line defective in male gamete maturation and egress. This enabled us to provide a comprehensive dataset of egress-related molecules and their gender specificity. Using specific antibodies, we validated eleven candidate molecules, predicted as either gender-specific or common to both male and female gametocytes. All of them localize to punctuate, vesicle-like structures that relocate to cell periphery upon activation, but only three of them localize to the gametocyte-specific secretory vesicles named osmiophilic bodies. Our results confirm that the egress process involves a tightly coordinated secretory apparatus that includes different types of vesicles and may put the basis for functional studies aimed at designing novel transmission-blocking molecules.

INSTRUMENT(S): LTQ XL

ORGANISM(S): Plasmodium Berghei Anka (ncbitaxon:5823) Mus Musculus (ncbitaxon:10090)

SUBMITTER: FEDERICA FRATINI  

PROVIDER: MSV000085650 | MassIVE | Tue Jun 30 09:49:00 BST 2020

REPOSITORIES: MassIVE