A conserved U-rich RNA region implicated in regulation of translation in Plasmodium female gametocytes.

Joanna A. M. Braks, Gunnar R. Mair, Blandine Franke-Fayard, Chris J. Janse, Andrew P. Waters*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Translational repression (TR) plays an important role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and embryonic development in metazoans. TR also regulates the expression of a subset of the cytoplasmic mRNA population during development of fertilized female gametes of the unicellular malaria parasite, Plasmodium spp. which results in the formation of a polar and motile form, the ookinete. We report the conserved and sex-specific regulatory role of either the 3′- or 5′-UTR of a subset of translationally repressed mRNA species as shown by almost complete inhibition of expression of a GFP reporter protein in the female gametocyte. A U-rich, TR-associated element, identified previously in the 3′-UTR of TR-associated transcripts, played an essential role in mediating TR and a similar region could be found in the 5′-UTR shown in this study to be active in TR. The silencing effect of this 5′-UTR was shown to be independent of its position relative to its ORF, as transposition to a location 3′ of the ORF did not affect TR. These results demonstrate for the first time in a unicellular organism that the 5′ or the 3′-UTR of TR-associated transcripts play an important and conserved role in mediating TR in female gametocytes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1176–1186
JournalNucleic Acids Research
Volume36
Issue number4
Early online date23 Dec 2007
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 Mar 2008
Externally publishedYes

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