The essential genome of Plasmodium knowlesi reveals determinants of antimalarial susceptibility

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Elsworth, Brendan; Ye, Sida; Dass, Sheena; Tennessen, Jacob A.; Sultana, Qudseen; Thommen, Basil T.; Paul, Aditya S.; Kanjee, Usheer; Gruering, Christof; Ferreira, Marcelo U.; Gubbels, Marc-Jan; Zarringhalam, Kourosh; Duraisingh, Manoj T.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; US Food & Drug Administration (FDA); Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research (CBER); University of Massachusetts System; University of Massachusetts Boston; University of Massachusetts System; University of Massachusetts Boston; University of Massachusetts System; University of Massachusetts Boston; Universidade de Sao Paulo; Institute Biomed Science, University Sao Paulo; Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Institute of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine - UNL; Boston College
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8495
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adq6241
• 发表日期: 2025-02-07
• 关键词: erythrocyte invasion; piggybac transposon; in-vitro; malaria; falciparum; DISCOVERY; alignment; parasites; provides

摘要

Measures to combat the parasites that cause malaria have become compromised because of reliance on a small arsenal of drugs and emerging drug resistance. We conducted a transposon mutagenesis screen in the primate malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi, producing the most complete classification of gene essentiality in any Plasmodium spp. to date, with the resolution to define truncatable genes. We found conservation in the druggable genome between Plasmodium spp. and divergences in mitochondrial metabolism. Perturbation analyses with the frontline antimalarial artemisinin revealed modulators that both increase and decrease drug susceptibility. Our findings aid prioritization of drug and vaccine targets for the Plasmodium vivax clade and reveal mechanisms of resistance that can inform therapeutic development.