Identification of gene features important for post-transcriptional regulation of Plasmodium falciparum invasion genes

• Main Author: Zhang, Wen Tao
• Other Authors: Peter Rainer Preiser
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/39729
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Plasmodium falciparum which causes the most virulent form of human malaria is able to alter a repertoire of proteins steady state levels in order to switch from a sialic acid dependent to a sialic acid independent invasion pathway. The molecular basis of this switching mechanism is still unknown. Recent evidences from transcriptomic and proteomic approaches had postulated the post-transcriptional regulation (PTR) as the possible mechanism of regulating protein expression during invasion pathway switching. Here, it is showed that both the 5’UTR and 3’UTR of several genes contains the regulatory elements that are responsible for the differential regulation of protein expression during invasion pathway switching of P. falciparum. Identification of this provides experimental support to the postulation that UTRs are crucial regulators of PTR. Understanding the altered protein expression during host-parasite interaction would inspire the development of truly novel therapeutic approaches for the control of this human pathogen.