Repurposing the mitotic machinery to drive cellular elongation and chromatin reorganisation in Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes.

Jiahong Li, Gerald J Shami, Ellie Cho, Boyin Liu, Eric Hanssen, Matthew W A Dixon, Leann Tilley

Nature communications 2022 Aug 27

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The sexual stage gametocytes of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, adopt a falciform (crescent) shape driven by the assembly of a network of microtubules anchored to a cisternal inner membrane complex (IMC). Using 3D electron microscopy, we show that a non-mitotic microtubule organizing center (MTOC), embedded in the parasite's nuclear membrane, orients the endoplasmic reticulum and the nascent IMC and seeds cytoplasmic microtubules. A bundle of microtubules extends into the nuclear lumen, elongating the nuclear envelope and capturing the chromatin. Classical mitotic machinery components, including centriolar plaque proteins, Pfcentrin-1 and -4, microtubule-associated protein, End-binding protein-1, kinetochore protein, PfNDC80 and centromere-associated protein, PfCENH3, are involved in the nuclear microtubule assembly/disassembly process. Depolymerisation of the microtubules using trifluralin prevents elongation and disrupts the chromatin, centromere and kinetochore organisation. We show that the unusual non-mitotic hemispindle plays a central role in chromatin organisation, IMC positioning and subpellicular microtubule formation in gametocytes. © 2022. Crown.

Citation

Jiahong Li, Gerald J Shami, Ellie Cho, Boyin Liu, Eric Hanssen, Matthew W A Dixon, Leann Tilley. Repurposing the mitotic machinery to drive cellular elongation and chromatin reorganisation in Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes. Nature communications. 2022 Aug 27;13(1):5054