Analysis of developmentally regulated genes of the parasite Haemonchus contortus.

Differential regulation of gene expression in the development of Haemonchus contortus was analysed using RNA arbitrarily-primed PCR. A study of third-stage larval and adult H. contortus revealed large differences between the two stages; 32 and 30% unique third-stage larval and adult RNA arbitrarily-primed PCR products, respectively. This finding is consistent with a high degree of differential gene expression between these developmental stages. A number of adult products were sequenced, revealing 11 molecules to be similar to deposits within sequence databases. Four other molecules that did not have significant similarity to sequences in the databases may represent developmentally regulated genes specific to H. contortus. Northern analysis of the putative adult-expressed molecules with homologues in the databases confirmed that four were expressed only in adults, while four were expressed in both stages, but had different sized transcripts. This may reflect differential splicing, or expression of closely related but different molecules at different life cycle stages. Two molecules were present in mRNA populations from both stages, suggesting these were false stage-associated molecules. No transcript was detected for one molecule by Northern analysis, probably due to low level of expression. In situ hybridisation analysis was used to localise expression of transcripts in the adult parasite, in particular, to gain some insight into the nature of those molecules with no known predicted function.

Proteolytic digestion of band 3 at an external site alters the erythrocyte membrane organisation and may facilitate malarial invasion.

Invasion of human erythrocytes by Plasmodium falciparum is inhibited by chymostatin. This suggests that digestion of erythrocyte surface proteins by a protease with chymotrypsin-like activity may be involved in the invasion process. We find that treatment of intact erythrocytes with chymotrypsin cleaves the integral membrane protein, band 3, generating a major fragment with an apparent molecular weight of 58 kDa. We have used measurements of the rotational mobility of band 3, labelled with the phosphorescence probe, eosin-5-maleimide, as a monitor of the changes in the molecular organisation of the erythrocyte membrane which accompany band 3 cleavage. We report that the chymotrypsin treatment increases the rotational freedom of band 3, possibly due to conformational changes which disrupt its interaction with the underlying peripheral membrane proteins. We also show that chymotrypsin-treated erythrocytes undergo extensive endocytosis upon incorporation of exogenous fluorescently labelled phospholipid. We suggest that during the invasion process, digestion of band 3 by a chymotrypsin-like protease may induce a localised disruption of the erythrocyte membrane. This destabilised region of membrane may represent the site for the insertion of parasite-derived phospholipid, thus allowing the formation of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane.