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- Herman, Jonathan D., et al.
(författare)
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A genomic and evolutionary approach reveals non-genetic drug resistance in malaria
- 2014
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Ingår i: Genome Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1465-6906 .- 1474-760X. ; 15:11, s. 511-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Drug resistance remains a major public health challenge for malaria treatment and eradication. Individual loci associated with drug resistance to many antimalarials have been identified, but their epistasis with other resistance mechanisms has not yet been elucidated. Results: We previously described two mutations in the cytoplasmic prolyl-tRNA synthetase (cPRS) gene that confer resistance to halofuginone. We describe here the evolutionary trajectory of halofuginone resistance of two independent drug resistance selections in Plasmodium falciparum. Using this novel methodology, we discover an unexpected non-genetic drug resistance mechanism that P. falciparum utilizes before genetic modification of the cPRS. P. falciparum first upregulates its proline amino acid homeostasis in response to halofuginone pressure. We show that this non-genetic adaptation to halofuginone is not likely mediated by differential RNA expression and precedes mutation or amplification of the cPRS gene. By tracking the evolution of the two drug resistance selections with whole genome sequencing, we further demonstrate that the cPRS locus accounts for the majority of genetic adaptation to halofuginone in P. falciparum. We further validate that copy-number variations at the cPRS locus also contribute to halofuginone resistance. Conclusions: We provide a three-step model for multi-locus evolution of halofuginone drug resistance in P. falciparum. Informed by genomic approaches, our results provide the first comprehensive view of the evolutionary trajectory malaria parasites take to achieve drug resistance. Our understanding of the multiple genetic and non-genetic mechanisms of drug resistance informs how we will design and pair future anti-malarials for clinical use.
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- Broadbent, Kate M., et al.
(författare)
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Strand-specific RNA sequencing in Plasmodium falciparum malaria identifies developmentally regulated long non-coding RNA and circular RNA
- 2015
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Ingår i: BMC Genomics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2164. ; 16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has a complex and multi-stage life cycle that requires extensive and precise gene regulation to allow invasion and hijacking of host cells, transmission, and immune escape. To date, the regulatory elements orchestrating these critical parasite processes remain largely unknown. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) could represent a missing regulatory layer across a broad range of organisms. Results: To investigate the regulatory capacity of lncRNA in P. falciparum, we harvested fifteen samples from two time-courses. Our sample set profiled 56 h of P. falciparum blood stage development. We then developed and validated strand-specific, non-polyA-selected RNA sequencing methods, and pursued the first assembly of P. falciparum strand-specific transcript structures from RNA sequencing data. This approach enabled the annotation of over one thousand lncRNA transcript models and their comprehensive global analysis: coding prediction, periodicity, stage-specificity, correlation, GC content, length, location relative to annotated transcripts, and splicing. We validated the complete splicing structure of three lncRNAs with compelling properties. Non-polyA-selected deep sequencing also enabled the prediction of hundreds of intriguing P. falciparum circular RNAs, six of which we validated experimentally. Conclusions: We found that a subset of lncRNAs, including all subtelomeric lncRNAs, strongly peaked in expression during invasion. By contrast, antisense transcript levels significantly dropped during invasion. As compared to neighboring mRNAs, the expression of antisense-sense pairs was significantly anti-correlated during blood stage development, indicating transcriptional interference. We also validated that P. falciparum produces circRNAs, which is notable given the lack of RNA interference in the organism, and discovered that a highly expressed, five-exon antisense RNA is poised to regulate P. falciparum gametocyte development 1 (PfGDV1), a gene required for early sexual commitment events.
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- Brolin, M, et al.
(författare)
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Simultaneous transcription of duplicated var2csa gene copies in individual Plasmodium falciparum parasites
- 2009
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Ingår i: Genome Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1465-6906 .- 1474-760X. ; 10:10, s. R117-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms are common in duplicated genes, causing functional preservation, alteration or silencing. The Plasmodium falciparum genes var2csa and Pf332 are duplicated in the haploid genome of the HB3 parasite line. Whereas the molecular function of Pf332 remains to be elucidated, VAR2CSA is known to be the main adhesin in placental parasite sequestration. Sequence variations introduced upon duplication of these genes provide discriminative possibilities to analyze allele-specific transcription with a bearing towards understanding gene dosage impact on parasite biology. Results: We demonstrate an approach combining real-time PCR allelic discrimination and discriminative RNA-FISH to distinguish between highly similar gene copies in P. falciparum parasites. The duplicated var2csa variants are simultaneously transcribed, both on a population level and intriguingly also in individual cells, with nuclear co-localization of the active genes and corresponding transcripts. This indicates transcriptional functionality of duplicated genes, challenges the dogma of mutually exclusive var gene transcription and suggests mechanisms behind antigenic variation, at least in respect to the duplicated and highly similar var2csa genes. Conclusions: Allelic discrimination assays have traditionally been applied to study zygosity in diploid genomes. The assays presented here are instead successfully applied to the identification and evaluation of transcriptional activity of duplicated genes in the haploid genome of the P. falciparum parasite. Allelic discrimination and gene or transcript localization by FISH not only provide insights into transcriptional regulation of genes such as the virulence associated var genes, but also suggest that this sensitive and precise approach could be used for further investigation of genome dynamics and gene regulation.
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