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Extrachromosomal DNA amplicons in antimalarial‐resistant Plasmodium falciparum
Author(s) -
McDaniels Jennifer M.,
Huckaby Adam C.,
Carter Sabrina A.,
Lingeman Sabrina,
Francis Audrey,
Congdon Molly,
Santos Webster,
Rathod Pradipsinh K.,
Guler Jennifer L.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/mmi.14624
Subject(s) - biology , extrachromosomal dna , plasmodium falciparum , amplicon , virology , genetics , malaria , dna , computational biology , gene , polymerase chain reaction , immunology , plasmid
Extrachromosomal (ec) DNAs are genetic elements that exist separately from the genome. Since ecDNA can carry beneficial genes, they are a powerful adaptive mechanism in cancers and many pathogens. For the first time, we report ecDNA contributing to antimalarial resistance in Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent human malaria parasite. Using pulse field gel electrophoresis combined with PCR‐based copy number analysis, we detected two ecDNA elements that differ in migration and structure. Entrapment in the electrophoresis well and low susceptibility to exonucleases revealed that the biologically relevant ecDNA element is large and complex in structure. Using deep sequencing, we show that ecDNA originates from the chromosome and expansion of an ecDNA‐specific sequence may improve its segregation or expression. We speculate that ecDNA is maintained using established mechanisms due to shared characteristics with the mitochondrial genome. Implications of ecDNA discovery in this organism are wide‐reaching due to the potential for new strategies to target resistance development.