The role of cAMP signalling in malaria parasite invasion of human red blood cells

David Baker (primary)
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Mike Blackman (secondary)
Malaria Biochemistry Laboratory
The Francis Crick Institute

Abstract

Malaria, caused by single-cell parasites of the genus Plasmodium, kills over 400,000 people each year. Despite intensive research, there remain many gaps in our understanding of malaria parasite biology. Our group focuses on understanding how signalling by a set of small molecules called cyclic nucleotides controls progression of the parasite life cycle, with the aim of developing new types of antimalarial drugs targeting this signalling pathway [1]. This project will use conditional mutagenesis combined with biochemical and cell biological approaches to dissect and further our understanding of the fascinating biology underpinning the complex life cycle of this important pathogen.


References

[1] Baker DA, Stewart LB, Large JM, Bowyer PW et al., (29 authors) (2017) A potent series targeting the malarial cGMP-dependent protein kinase clears infection and blocks transmission. Nat Commun. 8:430.

[2] Baker DA, Drought LG, Flueck C, Nofal SD, Patel A, Penzo M, Walker EM. (2017) Cyclic nucleotide signalling in malaria parasites. Open Biol. 7:170213. Review.

[3] Taylor HM, McRobert L, Grainger M, Sicard A, Dluzewski AR, Hopp CS, Holder AA, Baker DA. (2010) The malaria parasite cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase plays a central role in blood-stage schizogony. Eukaryot Cell. 9:37-45.

[4] Collins CR, Hackett F, Strath M, Penzo M, Withers-Martinez C, Baker DA, Blackman MJ. (2013) Malaria parasite cGMP-dependent protein kinase regulates blood stage merozoite secretory organelle discharge and egress. PLoS Pathog. 9:e1003344.

[5] McRobert L, Taylor CJ, Deng W, Fivelman QL, Cummings RM, Polley SD, Billker O, Baker DA. (2008) Gametogenesis in malaria parasites is mediated by the cGMP-dependent protein kinase. PLoS Biol. 6:e139.

[6] Alam MM, Solyakov L, Bottrill AR, Flueck C, Siddiqui FA, Singh S, Mistry S, Viskaduraki M, Lee K, Hopp CS, Chitnis CE, Doerig C, Moon RW, Green JL, Holder AA, Baker DA, Tobin AB. (2015) Phosphoproteomics reveals malaria parasite Protein Kinase G as a signalling hub regulating egress and invasion. Nat Commun. 6:7285.

[7] Collins CR, Das S, Wong EH, Andenmatten N, Stallmach R, Hackett F, Herman JP, Müller S, Meissner M, Blackman MJ. (2013) Robust inducible Cre recombinase activity in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum enables efficient gene deletion within a single asexual erythrocytic growth cycle. Mol Microbiol. 88:687-701.

[8] Thomas JA, Tan MSY, Bisson C, Borg A, Umrekar TR, Hackett F, Hale VL, Vizcay-Barrena G, Fleck RA, Snijders AP, Saibil HR, Blackman MJ. (2018) A protease cascade regulates release of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum from host red blood cells. Nat Microbiol. 3:447-455.


BBSRC Area
Animal disease, health and welfare
Area of Biology
Cell Biology
Techniques & Approaches
BiochemistryBioinformaticsImage ProcessingMolecular Biology