ArticleGenome biology2019
Alternative splicing is required for stage differentiation in malaria parasites.
Article in Genome biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inhibition of PfCLK3 interferes with malaria parasite RNA splicing and explains the mechanism of action of a new class of antimalarial candidates.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2026Article
- The serine-arginine-rich protein PfSR-X2 modulates human malaria parasite gene expression during the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Protein arginine methyltransferases in protozoan parasites: a new path for antiparasitic chemotherapy?Microbial cell (Graz, Austria) · 2026Article
- Multiple developmental pathways in organisms with developmentally complex life cycles.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Population genomics and transcriptomics of Plasmodium falciparum in Cambodia and Vietnam uncover key components of the artemisinin resistance genetic background.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Discovering the hidden function in fungal genomes.Nature communications · 2024Review
- Single-cell transcriptomics reveal transcriptional programs underlying male and female cell fate during Plasmodium falciparum gametocytogenesis.Nature communications · 2024Article
- An axonemal intron splicing program sustains Plasmodium male development.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Nonsense-mediated decay machinery inmSphere · 2023Article
- A type II protein arginine methyltransferase regulates merozoite invasion in Plasmodium falciparum.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Phenotypic Screens Identify Genetic Factors Associated with Gametocyte Development in the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Recent expansion of metabolic versatility in Diplonema papillatum, the model species of a highly speciose group of marine eukaryotes.BMC biology · 2023Article
- CRISPR-Cas13 in malaria parasite: Diagnosis and prospective gene function identification.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
- Article
- Emerging biology of noncoding RNAs in malaria parasites.PLoS pathogens · 2022Review
- Pervasive sequence-level variation in the transcriptome ofNAR genomics and bioinformatics · 2022Article
- Alternative splicing during fruit development among fleshy fruits.BMC genomics · 2021Article
- Full-length transcriptome analysis and identification of transcript structures in Eimeria necatrix from different developmental stages by single-molecule real-time sequencing.Parasites & vectors · 2021Article
- Direct Nanopore Sequencing of mRNA Reveals Landscape of Transcript Isoforms in Apicomplexan Parasites.mSystems · 2021Article
- Review
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9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn multicellular organisms, alternative splicing is central to tissue differentiation and identity. Unicellular protists lack multicellular tissue but differentiate into variable cell types during their life cycles. The role of alternative splicing in transitions between cell types and establishing cellular identity is currently unknown in any unicellular organism.
resultsTo test whether alternative splicing in unicellular protists plays a role in cellular differentiation, we conduct RNA-seq to compare splicing in female and male sexual stages to asexual intraerythrocytic stages in the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei. We find extensive changes in alternative splicing between stages and a role for alternative splicing in sexual differentiation. Previously, general gametocyte differentiation was shown to be modulated by specific transcription factors. Here, we show that alternative splicing establishes a subsequent layer of regulation, controlling genes relating to consequent sex-specific differentiation of gametocytes.
conclusionsWe demonstrate that alternative splicing is reprogrammed during cellular differentiation of a unicellular protist. Disruption of an alternative splicing factor, PbSR-MG, perturbs sex-specific alternative splicing and decreases the ability of the parasites to differentiate into male gametes and oocysts, thereby reducing transmission between vertebrate and insect hosts. Our results reveal alternative splicing as an integral, stage-specific phenomenon in these protists and as a regulator of cellular differentiation that arose early in eukaryotic evolution.
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