Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19023412›Full record

ArticlePLoS pathogens2008

A genetically hard-wired metabolic transcriptome in Plasmodium falciparum fails to mount protective responses to lethal antifolates.

Karthikeyan Ganesan, Napawan Ponmee, Lei Jiang, Joseph W Fowble, John White, Sumalee Kamchonwongpaisan, Yongyuth Yuthavong, Prapon Wilairat, Pradipsinh K Rathod

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS pathogens, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
58citing papers in PubMed
7.9field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

58 citing papers in PubMed, 158 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Single-cell analysis ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Identification of a divalent metal transporter required for cellular iron metabolism in malaria parasites.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Malaria Epigenetics.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2017
    Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Karthikeyan GanesanDepartment of Chemistry and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
Napawan Ponmee
Lei Jiang
Joseph W Fowble
John White
Sumalee Kamchonwongpaisan
Yongyuth Yuthavong
Prapon Wilairat
Pradipsinh K Rathod
University of Washington · USMahidol University · THNational Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology · TH

Funding

Thymidylate synthase inhibitors for malariaP01AI060360 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI RATHOD, PRADIPSINH K. · 2004 to 2008
$4.0M
REGULATION OF MALARIAL DHFR-TSR01AI026912 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI RATHOD, PRADIPSINH K. · 1994 to 2005
$1.3M
ANTIMALARIAL ACTIVITY OF OROTIC ACID ANALOGSR29AI026912 · NIAID · CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA · PI RATHOD, PRADIPSINH K. · 1989 to 1993
–
Howard Hughes Medical InstituteNIAID NIH HHS AI26912NIAID NIH HHS AI60360NIAID NIH HHS P01 AI060360NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI026912Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Genome sequences of Plasmodium falciparum allow for global analysis of drug responses to antimalarial agents. It was of interest to learn how DNA microarrays may be used to study drug action in malaria parasites. In one large, tightly controlled study involving 123 microarray hybridizations between cDNA from isogenic drug-sensitive and drug-resistant parasites, a lethal antifolate (WR99210) failed to over-produce RNA for the genetically proven principal target, dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS). This transcriptional rigidity carried over to metabolically related RNA encoding folate and pyrimidine biosynthesis, as well as to the rest of the parasite genome. No genes were reproducibly up-regulated by more than 2-fold until 24 h after initial drug exposure, even though clonal viability decreased by 50% within 6 h. We predicted and showed that while the parasites do not mount protective transcriptional responses to antifolates in real time, P. falciparum cells transfected with human DHFR gene, and adapted to long-term WR99210 exposure, adjusted the hard-wired transcriptome itself to thrive in the presence of the drug. A system-wide incapacity for changing RNA levels in response to specific metabolic perturbations may contribute to selective vulnerabilities of Plasmodium falciparum to lethal antimetabolites. In addition, such regulation affects how DNA microarrays are used to understand the mode of action of antimetabolites.

Indexed as

Gene Expression ProfilingAnimalsAntimalarialsDrug ResistanceErythrocytesFolic AcidFolic Acid AntagonistsGenomicsHumansMetabolic Networks and PathwaysMultienzyme ComplexesPlasmodium falciparumPyrimidinesRNA, ProtozoanTetrahydrofolate DehydrogenaseThymidylate SynthaseAntimalarialsFolic AcidFolic Acid AntagonistsMultienzyme ComplexespyrimidinePyrimidinesRNA, ProtozoanTetrahydrofolate DehydrogenaseThymidylate Synthasethymidylate synthase-dihydrofolate reductase

Identifiers

PMID19023412
PMCPMC2581438
OpenAlexW2070779598

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.