A 39-Amino-Acid C-Terminal Truncation of GDV1 Disrupts Sexual Commitment in Plasmodium falciparum
Marta Tibúrcio, Eva Hitz, Igor Niederwieser, Gavin Kelly, Heledd Davies, Christian Doerig, Oliver Billker, Till S. Voss, Moritz Treeck
Abstract
species by mosquitos requires the parasite to change from a continuously growing asexual parasite form growing in the blood to a sexually differentiated form, the gametocyte. Only a small subset of asexual parasites differentiates into gametocytes that are taken up by the mosquito. Transmission represents a bottleneck in the life cycle of the parasite, so a molecular understanding of the events that lead to stage conversion may identify novel intervention points. Here, we screened a subset of kinases we hypothesized to play a role in this process. While we did not identify kinases required for sexual conversion, we identified a mutation in the C terminus of the gametocyte development 1 protein (GDV1), which abrogates sexual development. The mutation destabilizes the protein but not its interaction with its cognate binding partner HP1. This suggests an important role for the GDV1 C terminus beyond trafficking and protein stability.