Cui Liwang, Miao Jun
Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University, 501 ASI Bldg., University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Eukaryot Cell. 2010 Aug;9(8):1138-49. doi: 10.1128/EC.00036-10. Epub 2010 May 7.
Malaria is a major public health problem in many developing countries, with the malignant tertian parasite Plasmodium falciparum causing the most malaria-associated mortality. Extensive research, especially with the advancement of genomics and transfection tools, has highlighted the fundamental importance of chromatin-mediated gene regulation in the developmental program of this early-branching eukaryote. The Plasmodium parasite genomes reveal the existence of both canonical and variant histones that make up the nucleosomes, as well as a full collection of conserved enzymes for chromatin remodeling and histone posttranslational modifications (PTMs). Recent studies have identified a wide array of both conserved and novel histone PTMs in P. falciparum, indicating the presence of a complex and divergent "histone code." Genome-wide analysis has begun to decipher the nucleosome landscape and histone modifications associated with the dynamic organization of chromatin structures during the parasite's life cycle. Focused studies on malaria-specific phenomena such as antigenic variation and red cell invasion pathways shed further light on the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in these processes. Here we review our current understanding of chromatin-mediated gene regulation in malaria parasites, with specific reference to exemplar studies on antigenic variation and host cell invasion.
疟疾是许多发展中国家的一个主要公共卫生问题，恶性三日疟原虫导致了与疟疾相关的大部分死亡。广泛的研究，尤其是随着基因组学和转染工具的进步，凸显了染色质介导的基因调控在这种早期分支真核生物发育程序中的根本重要性。疟原虫基因组揭示了构成核小体的经典组蛋白和变体组蛋白的存在，以及用于染色质重塑和组蛋白翻译后修饰（PTM）的完整保守酶集合。最近的研究在恶性疟原虫中鉴定出了大量保守和新颖的组蛋白PTM，表明存在复杂且多样的“组蛋白密码”。全基因组分析已开始解读与寄生虫生命周期中染色质结构动态组织相关的核小体图谱和组蛋白修饰。对疟疾特异性现象如抗原变异和红细胞入侵途径的重点研究进一步揭示了表观遗传机制在这些过程中的作用。在此，我们综述了目前对疟原虫中染色质介导的基因调控的理解，并特别提及了关于抗原变异和宿主细胞入侵的典型研究。
