Journal article
Conditional expression of apical membrane antigen 1 in Plasmodium falciparum shows it is required for erythrocyte invasion by merozoites
A Yap, MF Azevedo, PR Gilson, GE Weiss, MT O'Neill, DW Wilson, BS Crabb, AF Cowman
Cellular Microbiology | Published : 2014
DOI: 10.1111/cmi.12287
Abstract
Malaria is caused by obligate intracellular parasites, of which Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal species. In humans, P.falciparum merozoites (invasive forms of the parasite) employ a host of parasite proteins to rapidly invade erythrocytes. One of these is the P.falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (PfAMA1) which forms a complex with rhoptry neck proteins at the tight junction. Here, we have placed the Pfama1 gene under conditional control using dimerizable Cre recombinase (DiCre) in P.falciparum. DiCre-mediated excision of the loxP-flanked Pfama1 gene results in approximately 80% decreased expression of the protein within one intraerythrocytic growth cycle. This reduces growth by 40..
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Grants
Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank the Red Cross Blood Service (Melbourne, Australia) for supply of red blood cells as well as serum and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research Monoclonal Laboratory for growing the monoclonal antibodies. This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) (637406), and the Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support grant. A. Y. is a recipient of PhD scholarships from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research as well as the University of Melbourne (Australia). A.F.C. is a Howard Hughes International Scholar. We thank Nicholas Lim for assistance with the SYBR Green-based invasion assays.