Evidence that Plasmodium falciparum diacylglycerol acyltransferase is essential for intraerythrocytic proliferation

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Palacpac ; Nirianne Marie Q. ; Hiramine ; Yasushi ; Seto ; Shintaro ; Hiramatsu ; Ryuji ; Horii ; Toshihiro ; et. al.
• 关键词：Malaria ; Neutral lipid ; Triacylglycerol ; Lipid body
• 刊名：Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
• 出版年：2004
• 出版时间：September 3, 2004
• 年：2004
• 卷：321
• 期：4
• 页码：1062-1068
• 全文大小：584 K

文摘

In triacylglycerol (TAG)-accumulating organisms, the physiological roles of diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), a principal enzyme in the major biosynthetic pathway for TAG, appear to be diverse. Apicomplexan parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, shows unique features in TAG metabolism and trafficking during intraerythrocytic development, and unlike most eukaryotes, only one open reading frame (ORF) encoding a candidate DGAT could be found in its genome. However, whether this candidate ORF encodes P. falciparum DGAT and its physiological relevance have not been assessed. Here, we demonstrate that the ORF is transcribed as a aaa3.6kb single mRNA throughout intraerythrocytic development, markedly elevated at trophozoite, schizont, and segmented schizont, and indeed encodes a protein exhibiting DGAT activity. Further, we provide evidence that the parasite in which the ORF was disrupted via double crossover recombination cannot be enriched, implying a fundamental role of PfDGAT in intraerythrocytic proliferation.