Identification of a new export signal in Plasmodium yoelii : identification of a new exportome

• Main Authors: Siau, Anthony, Huang, Ximei, Yam, Xue Yan, Bob, Ndeye Sakha, Sun, Hequan, Rajapakse, Jagath C., Renia, Laurent, Preiser, Peter R.
• Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/79474; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/25110
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Development of the erythrocytic malaria parasite requires targeting of parasite proteins into multiple compartments located within and beyond the parasite confine. Beyond the PEXEL/VTS pathway and its characterized players, increasing amount of evidence has highlighted the existence of proteins exported using alternative export-signal(s)/pathway(s); hence, the exportomes currently predicted are incomplete. The nature of these exported proteins which could have a prominent role in most of the Plasmodium species remains elusive. Using P. yoelii variant proteins, we identified a signal associated to lipophilic region that mediates export of P. yoelii proteins. This non-PEXEL signal termed PLASMED is defined by semi-conserved residues and possibly a secondary structure. In vivo characterization of exported-proteins indicated that PLASMED is a bona fide export-signal that allowed us to identify an unseen P. yoelii exportome. The repertoire of the newly predicted exported proteins opens up perspectives for unravelling the remodelling of the host-cell by the parasite, against which new therapies could be elaborated.