An international research has found that malaria parasite genomes are
shaped by parasite-specific gene families, and that this genome organization
strongly correlates with the parasite's virulence. The findings highlight the
importance of spatial genome organization in gene regulation and the control of
virulence in malaria parasites.
The findings highlight the importance of spatial genome
organization in gene regulation and the control of virulence in malaria
parasites.
"Novel
intervention strategies targeting the genome structure could thus mark a
breakthrough for both vaccine and drug development against malaria."Study results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Institute Leadership
assistant professor of computational biology at La Jolla Institute for
Immunology and an assistant adjunct professor at the UC San Diego School of
Medicine, and colleagues investigated the 3-D genome organization in five
malaria parasites and two related parasites to identify possible connections
between genome architecture and pathogenicity. They found that in all five
malaria parasites
The most virulent
species of malaria parasites use an "antigenic variation" mechanism
to alter their surface proteins and avoid the host immune response. The ability
of the parasite to switch its antigenic profile correlates with the parasite's
high virulence.
The researchers found
that the two most pathogenic human malaria parasites -- Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium knowlesi --
share unique features in the organization of gene families involved in
antigenic variation. P.
falciparum and P.
knowlesi, they report, have evolved unique gene families -- var and
SICvar, respectively -- that enable these parasites to undergo antigenic
variation.
"The organization
of other Plasmodium genomes is also driven by their virulence genes -- but it
is not as strongly seen in them as we see in P. falciparum and P. knowlesi,"
Le Roch was supported in the research by grants from the
National Institutes of Health and UC Riverside.
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