PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mohammad Zeeshan
AU  - Ravish Rashpa
AU  - David J Ferguson
AU  - Steven Abel
AU  - Zeinab Chahine
AU  - Declan Brady
AU  - Sue Vaughan
AU  - Carolyn A. Moores
AU  - Karine G. Le Roch
AU  - Mathieu Brochet
AU  - Anthony A. Holder
AU  - Rita Tewari
TI  - Key roles for kinesin-13 and kinesin-20 in malaria parasite proliferation, polarity and transmission revealed by genome-wide functional analysis
AID  - 10.1101/2021.05.26.445751
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.05.26.445751
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/03/31/2021.05.26.445751.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/03/31/2021.05.26.445751.full
AB  - Kinesins are microtubule-based motors important in cell division, motility, polarity, and intracellular transport in many eukaryotes. However, they are poorly studied in the divergent eukaryotic pathogens-Plasmodium spp., the causative agents of malaria, which manifest atypical aspects of cell division and plasticity of morphology throughout the lifecycle in both mammalian and mosquito hosts. Here we describe a genome-wide screen of Plasmodium kinesins, revealing diverse subcellular locations and functions in spindle assembly, axoneme formation and cell morphology. Surprisingly, only kinesin-13 is essential 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 dynamics during apical cell polarity formation, spindle assembly, and axoneme biogenesis. These findings help us to understand the importance of microtubule motors and may be exploited to discover new therapeutic interventions against malaria.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.