2. Academic Validation
  3. Targeting an essential Plasmodium cold shock protein to block growth and transmission of malaria parasite

Targeting an essential Plasmodium cold shock protein to block growth and transmission of malaria parasite

  • iScience. 2023 Apr 11;26(5):106637. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106637.
Ankita Behl 1,  Rumaisha Shoaib 1 2,  Fernando De Leon 3,  Geeta Kumari 1,  Monika Saini 1 4,  Evanka Madan 1,  Vikash Kumar 1,  Harshita Singh 1,  Jyoti Kumari 4,  Preeti Maurya 1,  Swati Garg 1,  Prakash Chandra Mishra 5,  Christoph Arenz 3,  Shailja Singh 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
  • 2 Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
  • 3 Institute for Chemistry, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
  • 4 Department of Life Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
  • 5 Department of Biotechnology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India.
PMID: 37192974 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106637
Abstract

Cold shock proteins are characterized by the presence of one or more cold shock domains that bestow them with nucleic acid binding ability. Although cold shock proteins are well characterized in bacteria, Plants and humans, there is no information on their existence and role in malaria Parasite. Here, we have identified and delineated the function of a cold shock protein of Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) 'PfCoSP'. We demonstrate that PfCoSP exhibits nucleic acid binding properties and regulates gene expression. PfCoSP promotes microtubule assembly by interacting with Pf α/β tubulin. We identified a human cold shock protein LIN28A inhibitor 'LI71' as a binding partner of PfCoSP which inhibited PfCoSP-DNA and α/β tubulin interactions and, also inhibited the development of asexual blood stages and gametocyte stage of malaria Parasite. Because PfCoSP is essential for Parasite survival, characterization of its interacting partners may form the basis for development of future anti-malarials.

Keywords

Biological sciences; Cell biology; Molecular biology; Parasitology.

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