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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
immunology and microbiology
Plasmodium falciparum NIMA-related kinase Pfnek-1: Sex specificity and assessment of essentiality for the erythrocytic asexual cycle
Microbiology, Volume 157, No. 10, Year 2011
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Description
The Plasmodium falciparum kinome includes a family of four protein kinases (Pfnek-1 to -4) related to the NIMA (never-in-mitosis) family, members of which play important roles in mitosis and meiosis in eukaryotic cells. Only one of these, Pfnek-1, which we previously characterized at the biochemical level, is expressed in asexual parasites. The other three (Pfnek-2, -3 and -4) are expressed predominantly in gametocytes, and a role for nek-2 and nek-4 in meiosis has been documented. Here we show by reverse genetics that Pfnek-1 is required for completion of the asexual cycle in red blood cells and that its expression in gametocytes in detectable by immunofluorescence in male (but not in female) gametocytes, in contrast with Pfnek-2 and Pfnek- 4. This indicates that the function of Pfnek-1 is non-redundant with those of the other members of the Pfnek family and identifies Pfnek-1 as a potential target for antimalarial chemotherapy. A medium-throughput screen of a small-molecule library provides proof of concept that recombinant Pfnek-1 can be used as a target in drug discovery. © 2011 SGM.
Authors & Co-Authors
Dorin-Semblat, Dominique
Switzerland, Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
United Kingdom, Glasgow
Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology
Schmitt, Sophie
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Semblat, Jean Philippe
Switzerland, Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
United Kingdom, Glasgow
Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology
Sicard, Audrey
Switzerland, Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
United Kingdom, Glasgow
Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology
Reininger, Luc
Switzerland, Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
United Kingdom, Glasgow
Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology
Goldring, J. P.Dean
South Africa, Durban
University of Kwazulu-natal
Patterson, Shelley
United States, Orlando
University of Central Florida
Quashie, Neils Ben
United Kingdom, Glasgow
University of Glasgow
Chakrabarti, Debopam
United States, Orlando
University of Central Florida
Meijer, Laurent
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Doerig, Christian D.
Switzerland, Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
United Kingdom, Glasgow
Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology
Statistics
Citations: 48
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1099/mic.0.049023-0
ISSN:
13500872
Research Areas
Cancer
Genetics And Genomics
Participants Gender
Male
Female