Department of Medicine, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Royal Parade, Parkville, Vic. 3050, Australia.
Cell Microbiol. 2012 Jun;14(6):819-28. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2012.01777.x. Epub 2012 Mar 28.
The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum dynamically regulates transcription of the majority of its genes during its intraerythrocytic developmental cycle. Chromatin is an important contributor to this tight regulation of gene expression. P. falciparum appears to utilize most of the mechanisms of chromatin creation and modification found in other eukaryotes, although it occasionally uses them in surprising ways. Much of the P. falciparum genome is maintained in a euchromatic state, potentially permissive for transcription and heterochromatin appears to have a specialized role limited to silencing islands of genes involved in redundant host-parasite interactions. P. falciparum histones share canonical modifications with other eukaryotes but also have unique modifications of unknown function including hyperacetylations of two alternative histones possibly involved in gene regulation. Much of our knowledge of chromatin regulation of gene expression in P. falciparum derives from the study of virulence genes that are subject to chromatin regulatory mechanisms ranging from histone modifications and nucleosomal occupancy to non-protein-coding RNAs and subnuclear architecture. These mechanisms will be discussed along with other characterized components of P. falciparum chromatin.
疟原虫恶性疟原虫在其红细胞内发育周期中动态调节其大多数基因的转录。染色质是基因表达这种紧密调控的重要贡献者。恶性疟原虫似乎利用了其他真核生物中发现的大多数染色质形成和修饰机制，尽管它偶尔以令人惊讶的方式使用它们。疟原虫基因组的大部分保持常染色质状态，可能有利于转录，异染色质似乎具有专门的作用，仅限于沉默涉及冗余宿主-寄生虫相互作用的基因岛。恶性疟原虫组蛋白与其他真核生物具有典型的修饰，但也具有独特的未知功能修饰，包括两个可能参与基因调控的替代组蛋白的超乙酰化。我们对恶性疟原虫基因表达染色质调控的大部分认识来自于对毒力基因的研究，这些基因受到从组蛋白修饰和核小体占据到非蛋白编码 RNA 和亚核结构等染色质调控机制的影响。这些机制将与恶性疟原虫染色质的其他特征成分一起讨论。
