Amit K Subudhi, Aidan J O'Donnell, Abhinay Ramaprasad, Hussein M Abkallo, Abhinav Kaushik, Hifzur R Ansari, Alyaa M Abdel-Haleem, Fathia Ben Rached, Osamu Kaneko, Richard Culleton, Sarah E Reece, Arnab Pain
Malaria parasites complete their intra-erythrocytic developmental cycle (IDC) in multiples of 24 h suggesting a circadian basis, but the mechanism controlling this periodicity is unknown. Combining in vivo and in vitro approaches utilizing rodent and human malaria parasites, we reveal that: (i) 57% of Plasmodium chabaudi genes exhibit daily rhythms in transcription; (ii) 58% of these genes lose transcriptional rhythmicity when the IDC is out-of-synchrony with host rhythms; (iii) 6% of Plasmodium falciparum genes show 24 h rhythms in expression under free-running conditions; (iv) Serpentine receptor 10 (SR10) has a 24 h transcriptional rhythm and disrupting it in rodent malaria parasites shortens the IDC by 2-3 h; (v) Multiple processes including DNA replication, and the ubiquitin and proteasome pathways, are affected by loss of coordination with host rhythms and by disruption of SR10...
June 2, 2020: Nature Communications