PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mohammad Zeeshan
AU  - Ravish Rashpa
AU  - David J Ferguson
AU  - Steven Abel
AU  - Zeinab Chahine
AU  - Declan Brady
AU  - Carolyn A. Moores
AU  - Karine G. Le Roch
AU  - Mathieu Brochet
AU  - Anthony A. Holder
AU  - Rita Tewari
TI  - Location and function of all <em>Plasmodium</em> kinesins: key roles in parasite proliferation, polarity and transmission
AID  - 10.1101/2021.05.26.445751
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.05.26.445751
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/05/27/2021.05.26.445751.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/05/27/2021.05.26.445751.full
AB  - Kinesins are microtubule-based motors important in cell division, motility, polarity and intracellular transport in many eukaryotes, but poorly studied in eukaryotic pathogens. Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria, is a divergent eukaryote with atypical aspects of cell division and a plasticity of morphology throughout its lifecycle in both mammalian and mosquito hosts. Here we describe a genome-wide screen of all nine Plasmodium kinesins, revealing diverse subcellular locations and functions in spindle assembly, axoneme formation and cell morphology. Surprisingly, only kinesin-13 has an essential role for growth in the mammalian host while the other eight kinesins are required during the proliferative and invasive stages of parasite transmission through the mosquito vector. In-depth analyses of kinesin-13 and kinesin-20 revealed functions in microtubule (MT) dynamics during apical polarity formation, spindle assembly and axoneme biogenesis. This comprehensive study will inform the targeting of MT motors for therapeutic intervention in malaria.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.