Chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage

The stevor multigene family is one of three gene families (including var and rifin) postulated to play a role in antigenic variation in Plasmodium falciparum. Recent work has shown how the protein is involved in cytoadherence, rosetting and possibly merozoite invasion showing the proteins involvemen...

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Main Author: Mushunje, Annals Tatenda
Other Authors: Peter Rainer Preiser
Format: Theses and Dissertations
Language:English
Published: 2016
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/69222
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-692222023-02-28T18:34:01Z Chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage Mushunje, Annals Tatenda Peter Rainer Preiser School of Biological Sciences DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Genetics DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Molecular biology The stevor multigene family is one of three gene families (including var and rifin) postulated to play a role in antigenic variation in Plasmodium falciparum. Recent work has shown how the protein is involved in cytoadherence, rosetting and possibly merozoite invasion showing the proteins involvement in the pathology of malaria. The parasite has 35+ stevor genes and expresses 1-3 of these at a parasite level. This tight level of gene control is not unique to stevor but to the vars and rifins as well. In this study, we aimed to characterize histone modifications associated with transcription activation and repression of stevor using ChIP-qPCR. We studied four stevors: a transgenic hdhfr-gfp stevor and three stevors expressed naturally. Our study shows that different stevor genes show histone-specific regulation and subtle differences in their regulation. H3/H4 acetylation reactions are involved in activation of stevor genes and are primarily enriched in the 5’ UTR as well coding regions of all stevors. H3K4 methylation reactions likely play a supporting role in activation of stevors and are enriched in stevor specific positions along the 5’ UTR and coding regions. H3K9/36 trimethylation reactions are enriched in the 3’ end of the 5’ UTR and coding regions and are involved in silencing. Interestingly we observed subtle differences between the epigenetic landscape of the stevors and we propose that the subtle differences observed between the epigenetic landscapes of the stevors, could in turn influence the transcription pattern of stevors and also could explain why stevors do not follow a strict mutual exclusion as observed for var genes. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SBS) 2016-12-01T07:27:36Z 2016-12-01T07:27:36Z 2016 Thesis Mushunje, A. T. (2016). Chromatin modifications associated with the activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/69222 10.32657/10356/69222 en 287 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Genetics
DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Molecular biology
spellingShingle DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Genetics
DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Molecular biology
Mushunje, Annals Tatenda
Chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage
description The stevor multigene family is one of three gene families (including var and rifin) postulated to play a role in antigenic variation in Plasmodium falciparum. Recent work has shown how the protein is involved in cytoadherence, rosetting and possibly merozoite invasion showing the proteins involvement in the pathology of malaria. The parasite has 35+ stevor genes and expresses 1-3 of these at a parasite level. This tight level of gene control is not unique to stevor but to the vars and rifins as well. In this study, we aimed to characterize histone modifications associated with transcription activation and repression of stevor using ChIP-qPCR. We studied four stevors: a transgenic hdhfr-gfp stevor and three stevors expressed naturally. Our study shows that different stevor genes show histone-specific regulation and subtle differences in their regulation. H3/H4 acetylation reactions are involved in activation of stevor genes and are primarily enriched in the 5’ UTR as well coding regions of all stevors. H3K4 methylation reactions likely play a supporting role in activation of stevors and are enriched in stevor specific positions along the 5’ UTR and coding regions. H3K9/36 trimethylation reactions are enriched in the 3’ end of the 5’ UTR and coding regions and are involved in silencing. Interestingly we observed subtle differences between the epigenetic landscape of the stevors and we propose that the subtle differences observed between the epigenetic landscapes of the stevors, could in turn influence the transcription pattern of stevors and also could explain why stevors do not follow a strict mutual exclusion as observed for var genes.
author2 Peter Rainer Preiser
author_facet Peter Rainer Preiser
Mushunje, Annals Tatenda
format Theses and Dissertations
author Mushunje, Annals Tatenda
author_sort Mushunje, Annals Tatenda
title Chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage
title_short Chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage
title_full Chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage
title_fullStr Chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage
title_full_unstemmed Chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage
title_sort chromatin modifications associated with activation and repression of stevor multigene family of plasmodium falciparum during the trophozoite stage
publishDate 2016
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/69222
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