gms | German Medical Science

12th Malaria Meeting

Malaria Group / Section Antiparasitic Chemotherapy of the Paul-Ehrlich-Society (PEG e. V.) in cooperation with the German Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health (DTG e. V.) and the German Society for Parasitology (DGP e. V.)

14.11. - 15.11.2014, Bonn

Dissection of palmitoylation and phosphorylation in IMC recruitment of PfGAP45

Meeting Abstract

  • Tatianna Wai Ying Wong - M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
  • Olivia Ramsay - M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
  • Dhaneswar Prusty - M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
  • Johanna Wetzel - M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
  • Maya Kono - Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Dept. Molecular Parasitology, Hamburg, Germany
  • Ana Cabrera - M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
  • Tim W. Gilberger - M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Dept. Molecular Parasitology, Hamburg, Germany

12th Malaria Meeting. Bonn, 14.-15.11.2014. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2014. Doc14mal06

doi: 10.3205/14mal06, urn:nbn:de:0183-14mal067

Published: December 17, 2014

© 2014 Wong et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

The Plasmodium falciparum merozoite utilizes an actin-myosin motor to invade into erythrocytes, which is a part of the protein complex termed the glideosome. The glideosome provides the parasite with substrate dependent gliding motility, and is connected to the unique organelle named the inner membrane complex (IMC). The glideosome associated protein 45 (GAP45) is a crucial member of the glideosome. Here, we investigate the differential role of two post-translational modifications, specifically palmitoylation and phosphorylation, for recruitment of the protein to the IMC as well as glideosome association. Through comprehensive mutational analysis, it was shown that in addition to the N-terminal myristoylation and palmitoylation sites, two out of the five additional palmitoylation sites must be present to mediate IMC recruitment of GAP45. Despite the abundant in vivo phosphorylation sites in GAP45, a phosphorylation null mutant does not affect the protein’s IMC localization. Therefore this modification may be involved in glideosome complex formation.