RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Kinesin-8B controls basal body function and flagellum formation and is key to malaria parasite transmission
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 686568
DO 10.1101/686568
A1 Mohammad Zeeshan
A1 David J. P. Ferguson
A1 Steven Abel
A1 Alana Burrrell
A1 Edward Rea
A1 Declan Brady
A1 Emilie Daniel
A1 Michael Delves
A1 Sue Vaughan
A1 Anthony A. Holder
A1 Karine G. Le Roch
A1 Carolyn A. Moores
A1 Rita Tewari
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/02/686568.abstract
AB Eukaryotic flagella are conserved microtubule-based organelles that drive cell motility. Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria, has a single flagellate stage: the male gamete in the mosquito. Three rounds of endomitotic division together with an unusual mode of flagellum assembly rapidly produce eight motile gametes. These processes are tightly coordinated but their regulation is poorly understood. To understand this important developmental stage, we studied the function and location of the microtubule-based motor kinesin-8B, using gene-targeting, electron microscopy and live cell imaging. Deletion of the kinesin-8B gene showed no effect on mitosis but disrupted 9+2 axoneme assembly and flagellum formation during male gamete development and also completely ablated parasite transmission. Live cell imaging showed that kinesin-8B-GFP did not colocalise with kinetochores in the nucleus but instead revealed dynamic, cytoplasmic localisation with the basal bodies and the assembling axoneme during flagellum formation. We thus uncovered an unexpected role for kinesin-8B in parasite flagellum formation that is vital for the parasite life cycle.