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Updated: Jul 30, 2026

Methods to Investigate the Regulatory Role of Small RNAs and Ribosomal Occupancy of Plasmodium falciparum
Published on: December 4, 2015
Developmental regulation of a Plasmodium gene involves the generation of stage-specific 5' untranslated sequences
1Laboratorio di Biologia Cellulare, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. frontali@iss.infn.it
Abstract:
The B7 gene of Plasmodium berghei, highly conserved within the genus Plasmodium, encodes a nuclear protein most likely involved in chromatin assembly. In this study we describe the transcription pattern of B7 during asexual multiplication and sexual differentiation of the parasites in the blood of the vertebrate host. Two alternative transcripts have been identified: one, 1.4 kb in length is specific for asexual blood stages; the other, 1.8 kb in length is specific for sexually differentiated cells (gametocytes). The processed mRNAs are identical in their coding region and differ only in their 5' untranslated regions (5' UTRs). We show here that the differences in 5' UTRs are the result of two mechanisms: (1) the use of alternative transcription initiation sites mapped at least 1.4 kb apart, which imply the existence of separate, stage-specific promoters; (2) the splicing of a 765 bp gametocyte-specific intron at the 5' UTR of the 1.8 kb transcript.
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