Stearoyl-CoA desaturase regulates organelle biogenesis and hepatic merozoite formation in Plasmodium berghei.

Plasmodium is an obligate intracellular parasite that requires intense lipid synthesis for membrane biogenesis and survival. One of the principal membrane components is oleic acid, which is needed to maintain the membrane's biophysical properties and fluidity. The malaria parasite can modify fatty acids, and stearoyl-CoA Δ9-desaturase (Scd) is an enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of oleic acid by desaturation of stearic acid. Scd is dispensable in P. falciparum blood stages; however, its role in mosquito and liver stages remains unknown. We show that P. berghei Scd localizes to the ER in the blood and liver stages. Disruption of Scd in the rodent malaria parasite P. berghei did not affect parasite blood stage propagation, mosquito stage development, or early liver-stage development. However, when Scd KO sporozoites were inoculated intravenously or by mosquito bite into mice, they failed to initiate blood-stage infection. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that organelle biogenesis was impaired and merozoite formation was abolished, which initiates blood-stage infections. Genetic complementation of the KO parasites restored merozoite formation to a level similar to that of WT parasites. Mice immunized with Scd KO sporozoites confer long-lasting sterile protection against infectious sporozoite challenge. Thus, the Scd KO parasite is an appealing candidate for inducing protective pre-erythrocytic immunity and hence its utility as a GAP.

Protein kinase 9 is not required for completion of the Plasmodium berghei life cycle.

Protein kinases uniquely expressed in Plasmodium represent attractive drug targets. Previous studies have reported that Plasmodium falciparum Protein kinase 9 (Pk9) phosphorylates regulatory serine 106 of the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (Ubc13) thereby negatively regulating its activity. We investigated the effect of Pk9 depletion and Ubc13 mutation at S106 on the progression of rodent malaria model P. berghei life cycle. Our studies demonstrate that while phosphorylation of the regulatory serine 106 of Ubc13 is essential in blood stages, the lack of Pk9 expression neither altered Ubc13 phosphorylation nor parasite viability at all life cycle stages, though Ubc13 and Pk9 showed co-localization in the cytosol of erythrocytic and liver stages. Further, phosphorylation of Ubc13 in the absence of Pk9 reiterated the redundancy of its regulation in P. berghei. These results highlight the indispensable role of Ubc13 in P. berghei life cycle and redundancy in its phosphorylation by protein kinase and reiterate the need to validate novel gene function through genetic approaches for drug development strategies.

Mitochondrial apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease Apn1 is not critical for the completion of the Plasmodium berghei life cycle.

Mitochondrion is an essential organelle in malaria parasite and its DNA must be maintained for optimal function during its complex life cycle. Base excision repair is one of the major pathways by which this is achieved. Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonucleases are important components of this pathway as they create a nick at the 5'-phosphodiester bond in the AP site and generate free 5'-phosphate and 3'-hydroxyl groups. Two class II AP endonucleases (Apn1 and Ape1) have been annotated in the Plasmodium berghei genome. Using reverse genetic approaches, we provide direct evidence that Apn1 is exclusively localized to the mitochondria of P. berghei. Surprisingly, our gene deletion study revealed a completely dispensable role of Apn1 for the entirety of the P. berghei life cycle. Apn1- parasites were found to successfully grow in the blood. They were transmitted normally to the mosquito midguts and salivary glands. Sporozoites obtained from the salivary glands were infective and achieved similar patency as WT. Our results help emphasize the non-availability of this enzyme as a plausible drug target. We also emphasize the importance of genetic validation of antimalarial drug targets before furthering them down the drug discovery pipeline.

Secreted protein with altered thrombospondin repeat (SPATR) is essential for asexual blood stages but not required for hepatocyte invasion by the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei.

Upon entering its mammalian host, the malaria parasite productively invades two distinct cell types, that is, hepatocytes and erythrocytes during which several adhesins/invasins are thought to be involved. Many surface-located proteins containing thrombospondin Type I repeat (TSR) which help establish host-parasite molecular crosstalk have been shown to be essential for mammalian infection. Previous reports indicated that antibodies produced against Plasmodium falciparum secreted protein with altered thrombospondin repeat (SPATR) block hepatocyte invasion by sporozoites but no genetic evidence of its contribution to invasion has been reported. After failing to generate Spatr knockout in Plasmodium berghei blood stages, a conditional mutagenesis system was employed. Here, we show that SPATR plays an essential role during parasite's blood stages. Mutant salivary gland sporozoites exhibit normal motility, hepatocyte invasion, liver stage development and rupture of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane resulting in merosome formation. But these mutant hepatic merozoites failed to establish a blood stage infection in vivo. We provide direct evidence that SPATR is not required for hepatocyte invasion but plays an essential role during the blood stages of P. berghei.

A Plasmodium berghei putative serine-threonine kinase 2 (PBANKA_0311400) is required for late liver stage development and timely initiation of blood stage infection.

In Plasmodium, protein kinases govern key biological processes of the parasite life cycle involved in the establishment of infection, dissemination and sexual reproduction. The rodent malaria model P lasmodium berghei encodes for 66 putative eukaryotic protein kinases (ePKs) as identified through modelling domain signatures and are highly conserved in Plasmodium falciparum We report here the functional characterisation of a putative serine-threonine kinase P BANKA_0311400 identified in this kinome analysis and designate it as Pbstk2 To elucidate its role, we knocked out Pbstk2 locus and performed a detailed phenotypic analysis at different life cycle stages. The Pbstk2 knockout (KO) was not compromised in asexual blood stage propagation, transmission and development in the mosquito vector. The Pbstk2 KO produced viable salivary gland sporozoites that successfully transformed into exo-erythrocytic forms (EEFs) and were morphologically indistinguishable from wild-type GFP (WT GFP) with regard to size and shape until 48 h. An intravenous dose of 1×103 Pbstk2 KO sporozoites in C57BL/6 mice failed to establish blood stage infection and a higher dose of 5X103 showed a 2-3 day delay in prepatency as compared to WT GFP parasites. Consistent with such an observation, analysis of in vitro EEF development at 62 h revealed that the hepatic merozoite numbers were reduced to nearly 40% as compared to WT GFP and showed meagre expression of MSP1. Our studies provide evidence for the role of PbSTK2 in late liver stage development and for the successful establishment of a timely blood stage infection.

Plasmodium berghei plasmepsin VIII is essential for sporozoite gliding motility.

Plasmodium aspartic proteases, termed plasmepsins (PMs) play many critical roles such as haemoglobin degradation, cleavage of PEXEL proteins and sporozoite development in the parasite life cycle. Most of the plasmepsins are well characterized, however the role of PM VIII in Plasmodium remains unknown. Here, we elucidate the functions of PM VIII (PBANKA_132910) in the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei (Pb). By targeted gene deletion, we show that PbPM VIII is critical for sporozoite egress from an oocyst and gliding motility, which is a prerequisite for the invasion of salivary glands and subsequent transmission to the vertebrate host.

Lipases in Medicine: An Overview.

Lipases are part of the family of hydrolases that act on carboxylic ester bonds. They are involved in catalyzing the hydrolysis of triglycerides (TG) into chylomicrons and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) particles. Uses of lipases are evolving rapidly and currently they are reported to show high potential in medicine. Intensive study and investigations have led researchers to explore lipases for their use in substitution therapy, where in enzyme deficiency during diseased conditions is compensated by their external administration. In our body, they are used to break down fats present in food so that they can be absorbed in the intestine and deficiency of lipases leads to malabsorption of fats and fat-soluble vitamins. Lipases help a person who has cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis and act as a candidate target for cancer prevention and therapy. They act as diagnostic tool and their presence or increasing levels can indicate certain infection or disease. Obesity causes metabolic disease and is a serious health problem around the world. Thus inhibiting digestive lipase to reduce fat absorption has become the main pharmacological approach to the treatment of obesity in recent years.

Production and characterization of biodiesel using nonedible castor oil by immobilized lipase from Bacillus aerius.

A novel thermotolerant lipase from Bacillus aerius was immobilized on inexpensive silica gel matrix. The immobilized lipase was used for the synthesis of biodiesel using castor oil as a substrate in a solvent free system at 55°C under shaking in a chemical reactor. Several crucial parameters affecting biodiesel yield such as incubation time, temperature, substrate molar ratio, and amount of lipase were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the highest biodiesel yield was up to 78.13%. The characterization of synthesized biodiesel was done through FTIR spectroscopy, (1)H NMR spectra, and gas chromatography.

Comparative study of free and immobilized lipase from Bacillus aerius and its application in synthesis of ethyl ferulate.

In the present study, a purified lipase from Bacillus aerius immobilized on celite matrix was used for synthesis of ethyl ferulate. The celite-bound lipase exposed to glutaraldehyde showed 90.02% binding efficiency. It took two hours to bind maximally onto the support. The pH and temperature optima of the immobilized lipase were same as those of free enzyme i.e 9.5 and 55°C. Among different substrates both free and immobilized lipase showed maximum affinity towards p-nitrophenyl palmitate (p-NPP). The lipase activity was found to be stimulated in the presence of Mg(2+) in case of free enzyme while Zn(2+) and Fe(3+) showed stimulatory effect on immobilized lipase whereas salt ions as well as chelating agents inhibited activity of both free and immobilized lipase. Maximum enzyme activity was observed in n-hexane as organic solvent followed by n-heptane for both free and immobilized lipase, however CCl4, acetone and benzene inhibited the enzyme activity. Moreover, all the selected detergents (SDS, Triton X-100, Tween 80 and Tween 20) had an inhibitory effect on both free and immobilized enzyme activity. The celite bound lipase (1.5%) efficiently performed maximum esterification (2.51 moles/l) of ethanol and ferulic acid (100 mM each, at a molar ratio of 1:3) when incubated at 55°C for 48 h resulting in the formation of ester ethyl ferulate.

Characterization and catalytic properties of free and silica-bound lipase: a comparative study.

In the present study, the commercial lipase from Himedia, Mumbai was immobilized on silica gel matrix in the presence of a cross-linking agent, glutaraldehyde. The silica immobilized lipase exposed to 2% glutaraldehyde showed 94.28% binding efficiency. The activities of the free and immobilized enzymes were investigated in the hydrolysis reaction of p-nitrophenyl palmitate. The activities of the free and the immobilized lipases were measured at different pH values and temperatures, and their thermal stability was also determined. The free and silica immobilized lipase possessed optimum hydrolytic activity at 40°C, pH 8.0 at 10 minutes of reaction time. Among p-nitrophenyl esters of fatty acids of different chain lengths, both free and silica immobilized showed maximum activity towards p-NPP with measured Km of free and immobilized lipase was found at 0.13 and 0.349 mM respectively whereas the Vmax of free and immobilized lipase was 5.08 µmol/min/mL and 10.38 µmol/min/mg respectively. The lipase activity was found to be stimulated only in the presence of Cu(2+) ions whereas other metal ions inhibited activity of the lipase. The silica immobilized lipase was quite stable at 55°C and 60°C. The immobilized lipase was recycled up to 6(th) cycle and it retained 52% of its original activity up to 5(th) cycle.

Biodiesel production by transesterification using immobilized lipase.

Biodiesel can be produced by transesterification of vegetable or waste oil catalysed by lipases. Biodiesel is an alternative energy source to conventional fuel. It combines environmental friendliness with biodegradability, low toxicity and renewability. Biodiesel transesterification reactions can be broadly classified into two categories: chemical and enzymatic. The production of biodiesel using the enzymatic route eliminates the reactions catalysed under acid or alkali conditions by yielding product of very high purity. The modification of lipases can improve their stability, activity and tolerance to alcohol. The cost of lipases and the relatively slower reaction rate remain the major obstacles for enzymatic production of biodiesel. However, this problem can be solved by immobilizing the enzyme on a suitable matrix or support, which increases the chances of re-usability. The main factors affecting biodiesel production are composition of fatty acids, catalyst, solvents, molar ratio of alcohol and oil, temperature, water content, type of alcohol and reactor configuration. Optimization of these parameters is necessary to reduce the cost of biodiesel production.