Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Nov;13(11):1714-30.
doi: 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2011.01652.x. Epub 2011 Aug 11.

Critical role for a stage-specific actin in male exflagellation of the malaria parasite

Elena Deligianni  1 , Rhiannon N Morgan, Lucia Bertuccini, Taco W A Kooij, Alice Laforge, Carolin Nahar, Nikos Poulakakis, Herwig Schüler, Christos Louis, Kai Matuschewski, Inga Siden-Kiamos
Affiliations

Critical role for a stage-specific actin in male exflagellation of the malaria parasite

Elena Deligianni et al. Cell Microbiol. 2011 Nov.

Abstract

Male gametogenesis occurs directly after uptake of malaria parasites by the mosquito vector and leads to the release of eight nucleated flagellar gametes. Here, we report that one of the two parasite actin isoforms, named actin II, is essential for this process. Disruption of actin II in Plasmodium berghei resulted in viable asexual blood stages, but male gametogenesis was specifically inhibited. Upon activation, male gametocyte DNA was replicated normally and axonemes assembled, but egress from the host cell was inhibited, and axoneme motility abolished. The major actin isoform, actin I, displayed dual localization to the cytoplasm and the nucleus in male gametocytes. After activation actin I was found to be restricted to the cytoplasm. In actII(-) mutant parasites, this re-localization was abolished and actin I remained in both cellular compartments. These findings reveal vital and pleiotropic functions for the actin II isoform in male gametogenesis of the malaria parasite.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources