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Infection and Immunity, March 2008, p. 879-887, Vol. 76, No. 3
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00144-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Characterization of a Conserved Rhoptry-Associated Leucine Zipper-Like Protein in the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum{triangledown},{dagger}

Silvia Haase,1 Ana Cabrera,1 Christine Langer,1 Moritz Treeck,1 Nicole Struck,1 Susann Herrmann,1 Pascal W. Jansen,2 Iris Bruchhaus,1 Anna Bachmann,1 Suzana Dias,1 Alan F. Cowman,3 Hendrik G. Stunnenberg,2 Tobias Spielmann,1 and Tim-Wolf Gilberger1*

Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, 20359 Hamburg, Germany,1 Department of Molecular Biology, NCMLS, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands,2 The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne 3050, Australia3

Received 29 January 2007/ Returned for modification 17 March 2007/ Accepted 17 December 2007

One of the key processes in the pathobiology of the malaria parasite is the invasion and subsequent modification of the human erythrocyte. In this complex process, an unknown number of parasite proteins are involved, some of which are leading vaccine candidates. The majority of the proteins that play pivotal roles in invasion are either stored in the apical secretory organelles or located on the surface of the merozoite, the invasive stage of the parasite. Using transcriptional and structural features of these known proteins, we performed a genomewide search that identified 49 hypothetical proteins with a high probability of being located on the surface of the merozoite or in the secretory organelles. Of these candidates, we characterized a novel leucine zipper-like protein in Plasmodium falciparum that is conserved in Plasmodium spp. This protein is expressed in late blood stages and localizes to the rhoptries of the parasite. We demonstrate that this Plasmodium sp.-specific protein has a high degree of conservation within field isolates and that it is refractory to gene knockout attempts and thus might play an important role in invasion.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Research Group Malaria II, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Bernhard-Nocht-Str. 74, 20359 Hamburg, Germany. Phone: 49 (0)40-42818-486. Fax: 49 (0)40-42818-418. E-mail: gilberger{at}bni-hamburg.de

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 3 January 2008.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://iai.asm.org/.

Editor: J. F. Urban, Jr.

Infection and Immunity, March 2008, p. 879-887, Vol. 76, No. 3
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00144-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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