A member of the CPW-WPC protein family is expressed in and localized to the surface of developing ookinetes.

BACKGROUND

Despite the development of malaria control programs, billions of people are still at risk for this infectious disease. Recently, the idea of the transmission-blocking vaccine, which works by interrupting the infection of mosquitoes by parasites, has gained attention as a promising strategy for malaria control and eradication. To date, a limited number of surface proteins have been identified in mosquito-stage parasites and investigated as potential targets for transmission-blocking vaccines. Therefore, for the development of effective transmission-blocking strategies in epidemic areas, it is necessary to identify novel zygote/ookinete surface proteins as candidate antigens.

METHODS

Since the expression of many zygote/ookinete proteins is regulated post-transcriptionally, proteins that are regulated by well-known translational mediators were focused. Through in silico screening, CPW-WPC family proteins were selected as potential zygote/ookinete surface proteins. All experiments were performed in the rodent malaria parasite, Plasmodium yoelii XNL. mRNA and protein expression profiles were examined by RT-PCR and western blotting, respectively, over the course of the life cycle of the malaria parasite. Protein function was also investigated by the generation of gene-disrupted transgenic parasites.

RESULTS

The CPW-WPC protein family, named after the unique WxC repeat domains, is highly conserved among Plasmodium species. It is revealed that CPW-WPC mRNA transcripts are transcribed in gametocytes, while CPW-WPC proteins are expressed in zygote/ookinete-stage parasites. Localization analysis reveals that one of the CPW-WPC family members, designated as PyCPW-WPC-1, is a novel zygote/ookinete stage-specific surface protein. Targeted disruption of the pycpw-wpc-1 gene caused no obvious defects during ookinete and oocyst formation, suggesting that PyCPW-WPC-1 is not essential for mosquito-stage parasite development.

CONCLUSIONS

It is demonstrated that PyCPW-WPC-1 can be classified as a novel, post-transcriptionally regulated zygote/ookinete surface protein. Additional studies are required to determine whether all CPW-WPC family members are also present on the ookinete surface and share similar biological roles during mosquito-stage parasite development. Further investigations of CPW-WPC family proteins may facilitate understanding of parasite biology in the mosquito stage and development of transmission-blocking vaccines.