RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Changes in genome organization of parasite-specific gene families during the Plasmodium transmission stages JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 242123 DO 10.1101/242123 A1 Evelien M. Bunnik A1 Kate B. Cook A1 Nelle Varoquaux A1 Gayani Batugedara A1 Jacques Prudhomme A1 Lirong Shi A1 Chiara Andolina A1 Leila S. Ross A1 Declan Brady A1 David A. Fidock A1 Francois Nosten A1 Rita Tewari A1 Photini Sinnis A1 Ferhat Ay A1 Jean-Philippe Vert A1 William Stafford Noble A1 Karine G. Le Roch YR 2018 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/03/242123.abstract AB The development of malaria parasites throughout their various life cycle stages is controlled by coordinated changes in gene expression. We previously showed that the three-dimensional organization of the P. falciparum genome is strongly associated with gene expression during its replication cycle inside red blood cells. Here, we analyzed genome organization in the P. falciparum and P. vivax transmission stages. Major changes occurred in the localization and interactions of genes involved in pathogenesis and immune evasion, erythrocyte and liver cell invasion, sexual differentiation and master regulation of gene expression. In addition, we observed reorganization of subtelomeric heterochromatin around genes involved in host cell remodeling. Depletion of heterochromatin protein 1 (PfHP1) resulted in loss of interactions between virulence genes, confirming that PfHP1 is essential for maintenance of the repressive center. Overall, our results suggest that the three-dimensional genome structure is strongly connected with transcriptional activity of specific gene families throughout the life cycle of human malaria parasites.