scholarly journals Atg8 is essential specifically for an autophagy-independent function in apicoplast biogenesis in blood-stage malaria parasites

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Walczak ◽  
Suresh M. Ganesan ◽  
Jacquin C. Niles ◽  
Ellen Yeh
Keyword(s):  
Protein Import ◽  
Blood Stage ◽  
Secondary Endosymbiosis ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Independent Function ◽  
Independent Functions ◽  
Parasite Replication ◽  
Apicoplast Genome ◽  
Blood Stage Malaria

AbstractPlasmodium parasites and related pathogens contain an essential non-photosynthetic plastid organelle, the apicoplast, derived from secondary endosymbiosis. Intriguingly, a highly conserved eukaryotic protein, autophagy-related protein 8 (Atg8), has an autophagy-independent function in the apicoplast. Little is known about the novel apicoplast function of Atg8 and its importance in blood-stage P. falciparum. Using a P. falciparum strain in which Atg8 expression was conditionally regulated, we showed that PfAtg8 is essential for parasite replication. Significantly, growth inhibition caused by the loss of PfAtg8 was reversed by addition of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), which was previously shown to rescue apicoplast defects in P. falciparum. Parasites deficient in PfAtg8, but growth rescued by IPP, had lost their apicoplast. We designed a suite of functional assays, including a new fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method for detection of the low-copy apicoplast genome, to interrogate specific steps in apicoplast biogenesis and detect apicoplast defects which preceded the block in parasite replication. Though protein import and membrane expansion of the apicoplast were unaffected, the apicoplast was not inherited by daughter parasites. Our findings demonstrate that, though multiple autophagy-dependent and independent functions have been proposed for PfAtg8, only its role in apicoplast biogenesis is essential. We propose that PfAtg8 is required for fission or segregation of the apicoplast during parasite replication.

scholarly journals ATG8 Is Essential Specifically for an Autophagy-Independent Function in Apicoplast Biogenesis in Blood-Stage Malaria Parasites

mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Walczak ◽  
Suresh M. Ganesan ◽  
Jacquin C. Niles ◽  
Ellen Yeh
Keyword(s):  
Protein Import ◽  
Blood Stage ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Secondary Endosymbiosis ◽  
Organelle Biogenesis ◽  
Independent Function ◽  
Malaria Parasites ◽  
Apicomplexan Parasites ◽  
Independent Functions ◽  
Parasite Replication

ABSTRACT Plasmodium parasites and related pathogens contain an essential nonphotosynthetic plastid organelle, the apicoplast, derived from secondary endosymbiosis. Intriguingly, a highly conserved eukaryotic protein, autophagy-related protein 8 (ATG8), has an autophagy-independent function in the apicoplast. Little is known about the novel apicoplast function of ATG8 and its importance in blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum. Using a P. falciparum strain in which ATG8 expression was conditionally regulated, we showed that P. falciparum ATG8 (PfATG8) is essential for parasite replication. Significantly, growth inhibition caused by the loss of PfATG8 was reversed by addition of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), which was previously shown to rescue apicoplast defects in P. falciparum. Parasites deficient in PfATG8, but whose growth was rescued by IPP, had lost their apicoplast. We designed a suite of functional assays, including a new fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method for detection of the low-copy-number apicoplast genome, to interrogate specific steps in apicoplast biogenesis and detect apicoplast defects which preceded the block in parasite replication. Though protein import and membrane expansion of the apicoplast were unaffected, the apicoplast was not inherited by daughter parasites. Our findings demonstrate that, though multiple autophagy-dependent and independent functions have been proposed for PfATG8, only its role in apicoplast biogenesis is essential in blood-stage parasites. We propose that PfATG8 is required for fission or segregation of the apicoplast during parasite replication. IMPORTANCE Plasmodium parasites, which cause malaria, and related apicomplexan parasites are important human and veterinary pathogens. They are evolutionarily distant from traditional model organisms and possess a unique plastid organelle, the apicoplast, acquired by an unusual eukaryote-eukaryote endosymbiosis which established novel protein/lipid import and organelle inheritance pathways in the parasite cell. Though the apicoplast is essential for parasite survival in all stages of its life cycle, little is known about these novel biogenesis pathways. We show that malaria parasites have adapted a highly conserved protein required for macroautophagy in yeast and mammals to function specifically in apicoplast inheritance. Our finding elucidates a novel mechanism of organelle biogenesis, essential for pathogenesis, in this divergent branch of pathogenic eukaryotes.

scholarly journals Identification of a Novel, Intraperoxisomal Pex14-Binding Site in Pex13: Association of Pex13 with the Docking Complex Is Essential for Peroxisomal Matrix Protein Import

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 3007-3018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Schell-Steven ◽  
Katharina Stein ◽  
Mara Amoros ◽  
Christiane Landgraf ◽  
Rudolf Volkmer-Engert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Matrix Protein ◽  
Protein Import ◽  
Core Protein ◽  
Sh3 Domain ◽  
Matrix Proteins ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Independent Function ◽  
The Core ◽  
Essential Step ◽  
Import Receptors

ABSTRACT The peroxisomal docking complex is a key component of the import machinery for matrix proteins. The core protein of this complex, Pex14, is thought to represent the initial docking site for the import receptors Pex5 and Pex7. Associated with this complex is a fraction of Pex13, another essential component of the import machinery. Here we demonstrate that Pex13 directly binds Pex14 not only via its SH3 domain but also via a novel intraperoxisomal site. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Pex5 also contributes to the association of Pex13 with Pex14. Peroxisome function was affected only mildly by mutations within the novel Pex14 interaction site of Pex13 or by the non-Pex13-interacting mutant Pex5W204A. However, when these constructs were tested in combination, PTS1-dependent import and growth on oleic acid were severely compromised. When the SH3 domain-mediated interaction of Pex13 with Pex14 was blocked on top of that, PTS2-dependent matrix protein import was completely compromised and Pex13 was no longer copurified with the docking complex. We conclude that the association of Pex13 with Pex14 is an essential step in peroxisomal protein import that is enabled by two direct interactions and by one that is mediated by Pex5, a result which indicates a novel, receptor-independent function of Pex5.

scholarly journals Influence of protein (human galectin-3) design on aspects of lectin activity

2020 ◽  
Vol 154 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel García Caballero ◽  
Donella Beckwith ◽  
Nadezhda V. Shilova ◽  
Adele Gabba ◽  
Tanja J. Kutzner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protein Design ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Modular Assembly ◽  
Binding Partners ◽  
Galectin 3 ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Similar Affinity

Abstract The concept of biomedical significance of the functional pairing between tissue lectins and their glycoconjugate counterreceptors has reached the mainstream of research on the flow of biological information. A major challenge now is to identify the principles of structure–activity relationships that underlie specificity of recognition and the ensuing post-binding processes. Toward this end, we focus on a distinct feature on the side of the lectin, i.e. its architecture to present the carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD). Working with a multifunctional human lectin, i.e. galectin-3, as model, its CRD is used in protein engineering to build variants with different modular assembly. Hereby, it becomes possible to compare activity features of the natural design, i.e. CRD attached to an N-terminal tail, with those of homo- and heterodimers and the tail-free protein. Thermodynamics of binding disaccharides proved full activity of all proteins at very similar affinity. The following glycan array testing revealed maintained preferential contact formation with N-acetyllactosamine oligomers and histo-blood group ABH epitopes irrespective of variant design. The study of carbohydrate-inhibitable binding of the test panel disclosed up to qualitative cell-type-dependent differences in sections of fixed murine epididymis and especially jejunum. By probing topological aspects of binding, the susceptibility to inhibition by a tetravalent glycocluster was markedly different for the wild-type vs the homodimeric variant proteins. The results teach the salient lesson that protein design matters: the type of CRD presentation can have a profound bearing on whether basically suited oligosaccharides, which for example tested positively in an array, will become binding partners in situ. When lectin-glycoconjugate aggregates (lattices) are formed, their structural organization will depend on this parameter. Further testing (ga)lectin variants will thus be instrumental (i) to define the full range of impact of altering protein assembly and (ii) to explain why certain types of design have been favored during the course of evolution, besides opening biomedical perspectives for potential applications of the novel galectin forms.

Ultrasound accelerated near-edge functionalized heterogeneous graphene oxide sonocatalyst for surface optical bandwidth efficacy and in-situ sonothermocatalysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gopal Avashthi ◽  
Man Singh
Keyword(s):  
Graphene Oxide ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Surface Optical ◽  
Optical Bandwidth

Ultrasonochemically driven graphene oxide (GrO) functionalization (f) with Sulfanilamide (SA) near-edge catalyzed heterogeneous graphene oxide (h-GrO) as economic scalable f-(SA)GrO is reported. The novel in-situ H2O association was subsequently aligned...

scholarly journals The Structure of the Cysteine-Rich Domain of Plasmodium falciparum P113 Identifies the Location of the RH5 Binding Site

mBio ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Campeotto ◽  
Francis Galaway ◽  
Shahid Mehmood ◽  
Lea K. Barfod ◽  
Doris Quinkert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasmodium Falciparum ◽  
Binding Site ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Blood Stage ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Binding Region ◽  
Fab Fragment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Blood Stage Malaria

ABSTRACT Plasmodium falciparum RH5 is a secreted parasite ligand that is essential for erythrocyte invasion through direct interaction with the host erythrocyte receptor basigin. RH5 forms a tripartite complex with two other secreted parasite proteins, CyRPA and RIPR, and is tethered to the surface of the parasite through membrane-anchored P113. Antibodies against RH5, CyRPA, and RIPR can inhibit parasite invasion, suggesting that vaccines containing these three components have the potential to prevent blood-stage malaria. To further explore the role of the P113-RH5 interaction, we selected monoclonal antibodies against P113 that were either inhibitory or noninhibitory for RH5 binding. Using a Fab fragment as a crystallization chaperone, we determined the crystal structure of the RH5 binding region of P113 and showed that it is composed of two domains with structural similarities to rhamnose-binding lectins. We identified the RH5 binding site on P113 by using a combination of hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry and site-directed mutagenesis. We found that a monoclonal antibody to P113 that bound to this interface and inhibited the RH5-P113 interaction did not inhibit parasite blood-stage growth. These findings provide further structural information on the protein interactions of RH5 and will be helpful in guiding the development of blood-stage malaria vaccines that target RH5. IMPORTANCE Malaria is a deadly infectious disease primarily caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. It remains a major global health problem, and there is no highly effective vaccine. A parasite protein called RH5 is centrally involved in the invasion of host red blood cells, making it—and the other parasite proteins it interacts with—promising vaccine targets. We recently identified a protein called P113 that binds RH5, suggesting that it anchors RH5 to the parasite surface. In this paper, we use structural biology to locate and characterize the RH5 binding region on P113. These findings will be important to guide the development of new antimalarial vaccines to ultimately prevent this disease, which affects some of the poorest people on the planet.

scholarly journals One-Pot Synthesis of Novel Multisubstituted 1-Alkoxyindoles

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 1466
Author(s):  
Ye Eun Kim ◽  
Hyunsung Cho ◽  
Yoo Jin Lim ◽  
Chorong Kim ◽  
Sang Hyup Lee
Keyword(s):  
Alkyl Halide ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Reaction Conditions ◽  
One Pot ◽  
One Pot Synthesis ◽  
Consecutive Reactions ◽  
Intramolecular Condensation ◽  
Synthetic Sequence ◽  
Novel Target

Studies on a one-pot synthesis of novel multisubstituted 1-alkoxyindoles 1 and their mechanistic investigations are presented. The synthesis of 1 was successfully achieved through consecutive four step reactions from substrates 2. The substrates 2, prepared through a two-step synthetic sequence, underwent three consecutive reactions of nitro reduction, intramolecular condensation, and nucleophilic 1,5-addition to provide the intermediates, 1-hydroxyindoles 8, which then were alkylated in situ with alkyl halide to afford the novel target products 1. We optimized the reaction conditions for 1 focusing on the alkylation step, along with the consideration of formation of intermediates 8. The optimized condition was SnCl2·2H2O (3.3 eq) and alcohols (R1OH, 2.0 eq) for 1–2 h at 40 °C and then, base (10 eq) and alkyl halides (R2Y, 2.0 eq) for 1–4 h at 25–50 °C. Notably, all four step reactions were performed in one-pot to give 1 in good to modest yields. Furthermore, the mechanistic aspects were also discussed regarding the reaction pathways and the formation of side products. The significance lies in development of efficient one-pot reactions and in generation of new 1-alkoxyindoles.

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