Journal article
Repurposing the mitotic machinery to drive cellular elongation and chromatin reorganisation in Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes
J Li, GJ Shami, E Cho, B Liu, E Hanssen, MWA Dixon, L Tilley
Nature Communications | Published : 2022
Abstract
The sexual stage gametocytes of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, adopt a falciform (crescent) shape driven by the assembly of a network of microtubules anchored to a cisternal inner membrane complex (IMC). Using 3D electron microscopy, we show that a non-mitotic microtubule organizing center (MTOC), embedded in the parasite’s nuclear membrane, orients the endoplasmic reticulum and the nascent IMC and seeds cytoplasmic microtubules. A bundle of microtubules extends into the nuclear lumen, elongating the nuclear envelope and capturing the chromatin. Classical mitotic machinery components, including centriolar plaque proteins, Pfcentrin-1 and −4, microtubule-associated protein, End-..
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Grants
Awarded by Harvard Medical School
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank Professor Robert Sinden, Imperial College, London, Dr Mike Duffy, University of Melbourne, Dr Jeffrey Dvorin, Harvard Medical School and Dr. Paul McMillan, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, for advice. We thank Professor Alan Cowman, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for providing anti-PfCENH3. We acknowledge the facilities at the Ian Holmes Imaging Centre at Bio21 Institute and the Biological Optical Microscopy Platform (The University of Melbourne). We thank the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council for research support. L.T. was supported by an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship.