• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Saturday, January 23, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

How deadly parasites ‘glide’ into human cells

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
October 13, 2020
in Health
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: Samuel Pazicky/EMBL

Gliding movements to invade host cells

In biological terms, gliding refers to the type of movement during which a cell moves along a surface without changing its shape. This form of movement is unique to parasites from the phylum Apicomplexa, such as Plasmodium and Toxoplasma. Both parasites, which are transmitted by mosquitoes and cats, have an enormous impact on global heath. Plasmodium causes 228 million malaria infections and around 400,000 deaths per year. Toxoplasma, which infects even one third of the human population, can cause severe symptoms in some people, and is particularly dangerous during pregnancy.

Gliding enables the Apicomplexa parasites to enter and move between host cells. For example, upon entering the human body through a mosquito bite, Plasmodium glides through human skin before crossing into human blood vessels. This type of motion relies on actin and myosin, which are the same proteins that enable muscle movement in humans and other vertebrates. Myosin has a form of molecular ‘legs’ that ‘march’ along actin filaments and thereby create movement.

In Apicomplexa, myosin interacts with several other proteins, which together form a complex called the glideosome. The exact mechanism by which the glideosome works is not well understood, among other reasons because the molecular structure of most glideosome proteins are unknown. Yet understanding this mechanism could aid the development of drugs that prevent the assembly of the glideosome and thereby stop the progression of diseases such as malaria and toxoplasmosis.

Molecular stilts facilitate gliding

Scientists at EMBL Hamburg analysed the molecular structure of essential light chains (ELCs), which are glideosome proteins that bind directly to myosin. It is known that they are necessary for gliding, but their exact structure and role were unknown until now. The researchers now obtained molecular structures of ELC bound to myosin A in Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum using X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).

Their study, published in Communications Biology, shows that ELCs work like ‘molecular stilts’ – upon binding myosin A, the ELCs become rigid, and start to act as its lever arm. This stiffening lets myosin makes longer steps, which likely accelerates the parasite’s gliding movements.

The researchers also investigated the role of calcium, a presumed gliding regulator, in the interaction between ELCs and myosin A. Surprisingly, they discovered that calcium does not influence the structure of ELCs. It does, however, increase the stability of the ELC-myosin A complex. This unexpected result shows that the glideosome architecture still hides many unknowns.

“This work has provided the first glimpse of how these organisms move around,” says Matthew Bowler, an EMBL Grenoble researcher not involved in this study, who investigates Toxoplasma’s strategies to control the immune system after invading cells.

“It is fascinating to see new molecular details emerge on how these parasites work outside of the host cell. The beautiful structures show how the motor that drives this motion is put together, and could provide a basis to develop new medicines to treat these diseases,” continues Bowler.

Maria Bernabeu, who leads research on vascular dysfunction in cerebral malaria at the EMBL site in Barcelona, adds: “Plasmodium passage through the skin is the first stage of human infection. The advantage of targeting Plasmodium at that stage is that only about a hundred parasites are present. Understanding the parasite’s gliding motility might help to develop drugs or vaccines that target Plasmodium before it multiplies.”

Interdisciplinary collaboration

The work is a result of interdisciplinary collaboration between structural biologists (Löw group) and parasitologists (Gilberger group) from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Hamburg and Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB), as well as scientists from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Hamburg and Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. It demonstrates the potential of interdisciplinary collaborations in contributing to our understanding of biological processes and possible future strategies to combat parasitic diseases.

“Entering malaria research has been an exciting endeavour – regular exchange with experts and the interdisciplinary environment helped us to explore the field of parasitology,” says Christian Löw.

###

EMBL is dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary infection biology research. This is reflected by projects across EMBL sites, including work on malaria by Maria Bernabeu and on Toxoplasma by Matthew Bowler, and collaborative projects like those looking at malaria or tuberculosis led by Matthias Wilmanns at EMBL Hamburg.

Media Contact
Mathias Jäger
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.embl.org/news/science/glideosome-molecular-structure/

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01283-8

Tags: BiologyCell BiologyDisease in the Developing WorldMedicine/HealthMolecular Biology
Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

IMAGE

New maintenance treatment for acute myeloid leukemia prolongs the lives of patients

January 22, 2021
IMAGE

Potential combined drug therapy for lung cancer

January 22, 2021

University of Cincinnati student uses zebrafish to study spinal deformities

January 22, 2021

Addressing the impact of structural racism on disparities in children with Type 1 diabetes

January 22, 2021
Next Post
IMAGE

Finding the right colour to control magnets with laser pulses

IMAGE

TetGen 1.6 Release: new version of the successful mesh generator

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    The map of nuclear deformation takes the form of a mountain landscape

    54 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • People living with HIV face premature heart disease and barriers to care

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • New drug form may help treat osteoporosis, calcium-related disorders

    40 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • New findings help explain how COVID-19 overpowers the immune system

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

Technology/Engineering/Computer ScienceBiologyClimate ChangePublic HealthMaterialsInfectious/Emerging DiseasesMedicine/HealthcancerGeneticsCell BiologyEcology/EnvironmentChemistry/Physics/Materials Sciences

Recent Posts

  • Regulating the ribosomal RNA production line
  • A professor from RUDN University developed new liquid crystals
  • New technique builds super-hard metals from nanoparticles
  • No more needles for diagnostic tests?
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In