Repurposing the mitotic machinery to drive cellular elongation and chromatin reorganisation in Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes

Jiahong Li, Gerald J. Shami, Ellie Cho, Boyin Liu, Eric Hanssen, Matthew W. A. Dixon () and Leann Tilley ()
Additional contact information
Jiahong Li: The University of Melbourne
Gerald J. Shami: The University of Melbourne
Ellie Cho: The University of Melbourne
Boyin Liu: The University of Melbourne
Eric Hanssen: The University of Melbourne
Matthew W. A. Dixon: The University of Melbourne
Leann Tilley: The University of Melbourne

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract The sexual stage gametocytes of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, adopt a falciform (crescent) shape driven by the assembly of a network of microtubules anchored to a cisternal inner membrane complex (IMC). Using 3D electron microscopy, we show that a non-mitotic microtubule organizing center (MTOC), embedded in the parasite’s nuclear membrane, orients the endoplasmic reticulum and the nascent IMC and seeds cytoplasmic microtubules. A bundle of microtubules extends into the nuclear lumen, elongating the nuclear envelope and capturing the chromatin. Classical mitotic machinery components, including centriolar plaque proteins, Pfcentrin-1 and −4, microtubule-associated protein, End-binding protein-1, kinetochore protein, PfNDC80 and centromere-associated protein, PfCENH3, are involved in the nuclear microtubule assembly/disassembly process. Depolymerisation of the microtubules using trifluralin prevents elongation and disrupts the chromatin, centromere and kinetochore organisation. We show that the unusual non-mitotic hemispindle plays a central role in chromatin organisation, IMC positioning and subpellicular microtubule formation in gametocytes.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32579-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-32579-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32579-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().