Open AccessConditional expression of apical membrane antigen 1 in P lasmodium falciparum shows it is required for erythrocyte invasion by merozoites
Author(s) -
Yap Alan,
Azevedo Mauro F.,
Gilson Paul R.,
Weiss Greta E.,
O'Neill Matthew T.,
Wilson Danny W.,
Crabb Brendan S.,
Cowman Alan F.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
cellular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.542
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1462-5822
pISSN - 1462-5814
DOI - 10.1111/cmi.12287
Subject(s) - biology , plasmodium falciparum , rhoptry , antigen , microbiology and biotechnology , intracellular , parasite hosting , vacuole , cytoplasm , immunology , apicomplexa , malaria , world wide web , computer science
Summary Malaria is caused by obligate intracellular parasites, of which P lasmodium falciparum is the most lethal species. In humans, P . falciparum merozoites (invasive forms of the parasite) employ a host of parasite proteins to rapidly invade erythrocytes. One of these is the P . falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 ( PfAMA 1) which forms a complex with rhoptry neck proteins at the tight junction. Here, we have placed the Pfama1 gene under conditional control using dimerizable Cre recombinase ( DiCre ) in P . falciparum . DiCre ‐mediated excision of the loxP ‐flanked Pfama1 gene results in approximately 80% decreased expression of the protein within one intraerythrocytic growth cycle. This reduces growth by 40%, due to decreased invasion efficiency characterized by a post‐invasion defect in sealing of the parasitophorous vacuole. These results show that PfAMA 1 is an essential protein for merozoite invasion in P . falciparum and either directly or indirectly plays a role in resealing of the red blood cell at the posterior end of the invasion event.