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Plasmodium berghei PIMMS2 Promotes Ookinete Invasion of the Anopheles gambiae Mosquito Midgut.
| Content Provider | Europe PMC |
|---|---|
| Author | Ukegbu, Chiamaka V. Akinosoglou, Karolina A. Christophides, George K. Vlachou, Dina |
| Editor | Adams, John H. |
| Copyright Year | 2017 |
| Abstract | ABSTRACTMosquito midgut stages of the malaria parasite present an attractive biological system to study host-parasite interactions and develop interventions to block disease transmission. Mosquito infection ensues upon oocyst development that follows ookinete invasion and traversal of the mosquito midgut epithelium. Here, we report the characterization of PIMMS2 (Plasmodium invasion of mosquito midgut screen candidate 2), a Plasmodium berghei protein with structural similarities to subtilisin-like proteins. PIMMS2 orthologs are present in the genomes of all plasmodia and are mapped between the subtilisin-encoding genes SUB1 and SUB3. P. berghei PIMMS2 is specifically expressed in zygotes and ookinetes and is localized on the ookinete surface. Loss of PIMMS2 function through gene disruption by homologous recombination leads to normal development of motile ookinetes that exhibit a severely impaired capacity to traverse the mosquito midgut and transform to oocysts. Genetic complementation of the disrupted locus with a mutated PIMMS2 allele reveals that amino acid residues corresponding to the putative subtilisin-like catalytic triad are important but not essential for protein function. Our data demonstrate that PIMMS2 is a novel ookinete-specific protein that promotes parasite traversal of the mosquito midgut epithelium and establishment of mosquito infection. |
| Related Links | https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC5520436&blobtype=pdf |
| Page Count | 12 |
| ISSN | 00199567 |
| Journal | Infection and Immunity [Infect Immun] |
| Volume Number | 85 |
| PubMed Central reference number | PMC5520436 |
| Issue Number | 8 |
| PubMed reference number | 28559405 |
| e-ISSN | 10985522 |
| DOI | 10.1128/iai.00139-17 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| Publisher Date | 2017-07-19 |
| Publisher Place | N.W., Washington, DC |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Rights License | This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2017 Ukegbu et al. |
| Subject Keyword | malaria mosquito midgut invasion Plasmodium host-parasite interactions subtilisins |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
| Subject | Infectious Diseases Parasitology Immunology Microbiology |
