Exploration of malaria parasite genes involved in host-invasion using a transcription factor as a clue

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Malaria parasites have three host-invasive stages in the life cycle. The ookinete is one of these stages, in which malaria parasites invade the midgut of the mosquito. The purpose of this study was to identify target genes of AP2-O and elucidate roles of these genes in ookinetes. By genome-wide analysis with ChIP-Seq, over two thousand of binding sites of AP2-O were identified in the genome of the rodent malaria parasite, Plasmodium. berghei. Based on this result, over four hundred of target genes, which contained all genes that had been reported to be specifically expressed in the ookinete, were identified. Targeted gene disruption experiments in these genes revealed that they contained not only genes for midgut-invasion, but also those necessary for ookinete formation and those prepared in ookinetes and then used after mid-gut invasion. These results indicated that Ap2-O acts as a master transcription factor in the ookinete stage.