PfSET1, the essential gene for the growth of Plasmodium falciparum, is involved in regulation.

On December 24th, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), an international academic journal, published the latest research results of the Jiang Lubin Research Group at the Pasteur Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, entitled Epigenetic editing by CRISPR/dCas9 in Plasmodium falciparum. malaria
is listed as one of the world's top three infectious diseases, along with AIDS and tuberculosis.
malaria parasite is a prokaryotic microorganism that causes malaria, of which Plasmodium falciparum has the highest rate of infection and death. Genetic manipulation
molecular level is an important tool for studying Plasmodium falciparum pathology and anti-drug mechanisms.
However, the very low efficiency of genetic modification through homologous recombination mechanism in the malaria parasite, and the lack of key originals of the operational RNAi mechanism, make it urgent to develop an efficient and simple gene editing tool for the study of the malaria parasite.
Figure A: CRISPR/dCas9-GCN5 system activates gene expression schematicandion and activates Plasmodium falciparum Rh4 gene expression;
two key enzyme syntsites of Cas9 were mutated by dCas9 retained the binding DNA function, but lost the ability to cut DNA.
to couple dCas9 with some epigenetic modification factors, it is possible to efficiently regulate the transcription level of a particular gene.
Jiang Lubin's research team successfully built a new gene editing tool based on epigenetic modification in Plasmodium falciparum using the CRISPR/dCas9 system.
combined dCas9 with Plasmodium falcipadia acetyl transferase (PfGCN5) and deacetylase (PfSir2a), respectively.
guided by specific sgRNA, dCas9 recombinant proteins can specifically regulate the colormy histone acetylation modification level near the transcription starting point (TSS) of the target gene, thereby controlling the silence or activation of the gene expression.
using this new CRISPR/dCas9 technique, the team successfully regulated the expression of two key genes, PfRh4 and PfEBA-175, in which Plasmodium falciparum infected human red blood cells, and induced corresponding changes in infection phenotypes.
on this basis, the team further identified the molecular basis of PfSET1, the essential gene for the growth of Plasmodium falciparum, in regulating the red inner growth process of Plasmodium falciparum.
the results of the study provide a new and effective genetic operation tool for the gene editing of Plasmodium falciparum, and provide a powerful genetic operating system for the study of the functional genomics of Plasmodium falciparum. Xiao Bo, a doctoral candidate in
, is the first author of this article and Jiang Lubin is the author of the communication.
the research is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology's National Key Research and Development Program, the National Science and Technology Major Project, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Institutes of Health (R01).
Source: Pasteur Institute, Shanghai.