TurboID Identification of Evolutionarily Divergent Components of the Nuclear Pore Complex in the Malaria Model Plasmodium berghei
Sushma V. Ambekar, Josh R. Beck, Gunnar R. Mair
Abstract
The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is a platform for constant evolution and has been used to study the evolutionary patterns of early-branching eukaryotes. The Plasmodium NPC is poorly defined due to its evolutionary divergent nature making it impossible to characterize it via homology searches. Although 2 decades have passed since the publication of the Plasmodium genome, 30% of the genes still lack functional annotation. Our study demonstrates the ability of proximity labeling using TurboID to assign function to orphan proteins in the malaria parasite. We have identified a total of 10 Nups that will allow further study of NPC dynamics, structural elements, involvement in nucleocytoplasmic transport, and unique non-transport functions of nucleoporins that provide adaptability to this malaria parasite.