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Related Concept Videos

Malaria01:29

Malaria

Malaria pathogenesis in humans reflects a delicate interplay between parasite biology and host response. Clinical illness reflects a host’s immune response to the parasite’s asexual replication cycle, which is often asymptomatic in individuals with partial immunity. From the parasite's perspective, transmission between mosquito and human with minimal host pathology is evolutionarily advantageous. Among the six Plasmodium species infecting humans, P. falciparum and P. vivax dominate in global...
Symbiosis00:58

Symbiosis

Symbiotic relationships are long-term, close interactions between individuals of different species that affect the distribution and abundance of those species. When a relationship is beneficial to both species, this is called mutualism. When the relationship is beneficial to one species but neither beneficial nor harmful to the other species, this is called commensalism. When one organism is harmed to benefit another, the relationship is known as parasitism. These types of relationships often...
Position-effect Variegation02:32

Position-effect Variegation

In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.
Inheritance of Chromatin Structures03:17

Inheritance of Chromatin Structures

Epigenetics is the study of inherited changes in a cell's phenotype without changing the DNA sequences. It provides a form of memory for the differential gene expression pattern to maintain cell lineage, position-effect variegation, dosage compensation, and maintenance of chromatin structures such as telomeres and centromeres. For example, the structure and location of the centromere on chromosomes are epigenetically inherited. Its functionality is not dictated or ensured by the underlying DNA...

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Epigenetic memory at malaria virulence genes.

Thanat Chookajorn1, Ron Dzikowski, Matthias Frank

  • 1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. chookaj@fas.harvard.edu

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|January 9, 2007
PubMed
Summary

Malaria parasites like Plasmodium falciparum use epigenetic memory, specifically histone methylation, to control switching of their variant surface proteins (P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1) for immune evasion.

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Area of Science:

  • Parasitology
  • Immunology
  • Epigenetics

Background:

  • The malaria parasite *Plasmodium falciparum* exhibits antigenic variation by switching variant surface proteins (P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1) to evade host immunity.
  • The *var* gene family encodes these proteins, with each parasite expressing a single *var* gene exclusively, contributing to a vast and diverse gene pool.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the epigenetic mechanisms underlying the control of *var* gene transcription and antigenic variation in *Plasmodium falciparum*.
  • To explore the role of chromatin memory in the pathogenesis and immune evasion strategies of malaria parasites.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of epigenetic marks associated with *var* gene expression.
  • Investigation of histone modifications, including methylation of histone H3 at lysine K9 (H3K9me).

Main Results:

  • Control of *var* gene transcription and antigenic variation is linked to a chromatin memory.
  • Methylation of histone H3 at lysine K9 serves as a key epigenetic mark in this memory system.

Conclusions:

  • Epigenetic mechanisms, particularly H3K9me, play a crucial role in regulating antigenic variation in *Plasmodium falciparum*.
  • Understanding this gene transcription memory is vital for comprehending malaria pathogenesis and developing effective immune evasion strategies.