1. Testing the impact of a single nucleotide polymorphism in a Plasmodium berghei ApiAP2 transcription factor on experimental cerebral malaria in mice.
- Author
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Akkaya M, Bansal A, Sheehan PW, Pena M, Cimperman CK, Qi CF, Yazew T, Otto TD, Billker O, Miller LH, and Pierce SK
- Subjects
- Animals, Female, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Plasmodium berghei growth & development, Plasmodium berghei physiology, Protozoan Proteins antagonists & inhibitors, Virulence Factors antagonists & inhibitors, CRISPR-Cas Systems genetics, Extracellular Matrix parasitology, Malaria, Cerebral parasitology, Plasmodium berghei genetics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Protozoan Proteins genetics, Virulence Factors genetics
- Abstract
Cerebral malaria (CM) is the deadliest form of severe Plasmodium infections. Currently, we have limited understanding of the mechanisms by which Plasmodium parasites induce CM. The mouse model of CM, experimental CM (ECM), induced by infection with the rodent parasite, Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbANKA) has been extensively used to study the pathophysiology of CM. Recent genomic analyses revealed that the coding regions of PbANKA and the closely related Plasmodium berghei NK65 (PbNK65), that does not cause ECM, differ in only 21 single nucleotide polymorphysims (SNPs). Thus, the SNP-containing genes might contribute to the pathogenesis of ECM. Although the majority of these SNPs are located in genes of unknown function, one SNP is located in the DNA binding site of a member of the Plasmodium ApiAP2 transcription factor family, that we recently showed functions as a virulence factor alternating the host's immune response to the parasite. Here, we investigated the impact of this SNP on the development of ECM. Our results using CRISPR-Cas9 engineered parasites indicate that despite its immune modulatory function, the SNP is neither necessary nor sufficient to induce ECM and thus cannot account for parasite strain-specific differences in ECM phenotypes.
- Published
- 2020
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