The Actin Filament-Binding Protein Coronin Regulates Motility in Plasmodium Sporozoites

PLoS Pathogens

Ann-Kristin Mueller¹  Julia M. Sattler²  Mirko Singer²  Kartik S. Bane²  Jessica Kehrer²  Miriam Reinig²  Dennis Klug²  Simone Lepper²  Jake Baum³  Kirsten Heiss⁴  Friedrich Frischknecht⁴ 

[1] Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom;Integrative Parasitology, Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Heidelberg Medical School, Heidelberg, Germany;Malva GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany;Parasitology, Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Heidelberg Medical School, Heidelberg, Germany

关键词: Sporozoites;    Parasitic diseases;    Actin filaments;    Salivary gl;    s;    Plasmodium;    Mosquitoes;    Blood;    Actins;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1005710

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Parasites causing malaria need to migrate in order to penetrate tissue barriers and enter host cells. Here we show that the actin filament-binding protein coronin regulates gliding motility in Plasmodium berghei sporozoites, the highly motile forms of a rodent malaria-causing parasite transmitted by mosquitoes. Parasites lacking coronin show motility defects that impair colonization of the mosquito salivary glands but not migration in the skin, yet result in decreased transmission efficiency. In non-motile sporozoites low calcium concentrations mediate actin-independent coronin localization to the periphery. Engagement of extracellular ligands triggers an intracellular calcium release followed by the actin-dependent relocalization of coronin to the rear and initiation of motility. Mutational analysis and imaging suggest that coronin organizes actin filaments for productive motility. Using coronin-mCherry as a marker for the presence of actin filaments we found that protein kinase A contributes to actin filament disassembly. We finally speculate that calcium and cAMP-mediated signaling regulate a switch from rapid parasite motility to host cell invasion by differentially influencing actin dynamics.

【 授权许可】

CC BY