TY  - JOUR
AU  - Wichers, J. Stephan
AU  - Scholz, Judith A. M.
AU  - Strauss, Jan
AU  - Witt, Susanne
AU  - Lill, Andrés
AU  - Ehnold, Laura-Isabell
AU  - Neupert, Niklas
AU  - Liffner, Benjamin
AU  - Lühken, Renke
AU  - Petter, Michaela
AU  - Lorenzen, Stephan
AU  - Wilson, Danny W.
AU  - Loew, Christian
AU  - Lavazec, Catherine
AU  - Bruchhaus, Iris
AU  - Tannich, Egbert
AU  - Gilberger, Tim W.
AU  - Bachmann, Anna
TI  - Dissecting the Gene Expression, Localization, Membrane Topology, and Function of the Plasmodium falciparum STEVOR Protein Family
JO  - mBio
VL  - 10
IS  - 4
SN  - 2150-7511
CY  - Washington, DC
PB  - American Society for Microbiology
M1  - PUBDB-2023-05636
SP  - e01500-19
PY  - 2019
N1  - PIF-2018-87
AB  - During its intraerythrocytic development, the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum exposes variant surface antigens (VSAs) on infected erythrocytes to establish and maintain an infection. One family of small VSAs is the polymorphic STEVOR proteins, which are marked for export to the host cell surface through their PEXEL signal peptide. Interestingly, some STEVORs have also been reported to localize to the parasite plasma membrane and apical organelles, pointing toward a putative function in host cell egress or invasion. Using deep RNA sequencing analysis, we characterized P. falciparum stevor gene expression across the intraerythrocytic development cycle, including free merozoites, in detail and used the resulting stevor expression profiles for hierarchical clustering. We found that most stevor genes show biphasic expression oscillation, with maximum expression during trophozoite stages and a second peak in late schizonts. We selected four STEVOR variants, confirmed the expected export of these proteins to the host cell membrane, and tracked them to a secondary location, either to the parasite plasma membrane or the secretory organelles of merozoites in late schizont stages. We investigated the function of a particular STEVOR that showed rhoptry localization and demonstrated its role at the parasite-host interface during host cell invasion by specific antisera and targeted gene disruption. Experimentally determined membrane topology of this STEVOR revealed a single transmembrane domain exposing the semiconserved as well as variable protein regions to the cell surface.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - 31363031
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000481617000081
DO  - DOI:10.1128/mBio.01500-19
UR  - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/594082
ER  -