Expression and processing of Plasmodium berghei SERA3 during liver stages.

Schmidt-Christensen, Anja; Sturm, Angelika; Horstmann, Sebastian; Heussler, Volker (2008). Expression and processing of Plasmodium berghei SERA3 during liver stages. Cellular microbiology, 10(8), pp. 1723-1734. Blackwell 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2008.01162.x

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Cysteine proteases mediate liberation of Plasmodium berghei merozoites from infected hepatocytes. In an attempt to identify the responsible parasite proteases, we screened the genome of P. berghei for cysteine protease-encoding genes. RT-PCR analyses revealed that transcription of four out of five P. berghei serine repeat antigen (PbSERA) genes was strongly upregulated in late liver stages briefly before the parasitophorous vacuole membrane ruptured to release merozoites into the host cell cytoplasm, suggesting a role of PbSERA proteases in these processes. In order to characterize PbSERA3 processing, we raised an antiserum against a non-conserved region of the protein and generated a transgenic P. berghei strain expressing a TAP-tagged PbSERA3 under the control of the endogenous promoter. Immunofluorescence assays revealed that PbSERA3 leaks into the host cell cytoplasm during merozoite development, where it might contribute to host cell death or activate host cell proteases that execute cell death. Importantly, processed PbSERA3 has been detected by Western blot analysis in cell extracts of schizont-infected cells and merozoite-infected detached hepatic cells.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Cell Biology > Malaria
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Cell Biology

UniBE Contributor:

Heussler, Volker

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

1462-5814

Publisher:

Blackwell

Language:

English

Submitter:

Volker Heussler

Date Deposited:

11 Jul 2016 14:50

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:57

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/j.1462-5822.2008.01162.x

PubMed ID:

18419771

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.84081

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/84081

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