TY - JOUR
T1 - The malaria circumsporozoite protein has two functional domains, each with distinct roles as sporozoites journey from mosquito to mammalian host
AU - Coppi, Alida
AU - Natarajan, Ramya
AU - Pradel, Gabriele
AU - Bennett, Brandy L.
AU - James, Eric R.
AU - Roggero, Mario A.
AU - Corradin, Giampietro
AU - Persson, Cathrine
AU - Tewari, Rita
AU - Sinnis, Photini
PY - 2011/2/14
Y1 - 2011/2/14
N2 - Plasmodium sporozoites make a remarkable journey from the mosquito midgut to the mammalian liver. The sporozoite's major surface protein, circumsporozoite protein (CSP), is a multifunctional protein required for sporozoite development and likely mediates several steps of this journey. In this study, we show that CSP has two conformational states, an adhesive conformation in which the C-terminal cell-adhesive domain is exposed and a nonadhesive conformation in which the N terminus masks this domain. We demonstrate that the cell-adhesive domain functions in sporozoite development and hepatocyte invasion. Between these two events, the sporozoite must travel from the mosquito midgut to the mammalian liver, and N-terminal masking of the cell-adhesive domain maintains the sporozoite in a migratory state. In the mammalian host, proteolytic cleavage of CSP regulates the switch to an adhesive conformation, and the highly conserved region I plays a critical role in this process. If the CSP domain architecture is altered such that the celladhesive domain is constitutively exposed, the majority of sporozoites do not reach their target organs, and in the mammalian host, they initiate a blood stage infection directly from the inoculation site. These data provide structure-function information relevant to malaria vaccine development.
AB - Plasmodium sporozoites make a remarkable journey from the mosquito midgut to the mammalian liver. The sporozoite's major surface protein, circumsporozoite protein (CSP), is a multifunctional protein required for sporozoite development and likely mediates several steps of this journey. In this study, we show that CSP has two conformational states, an adhesive conformation in which the C-terminal cell-adhesive domain is exposed and a nonadhesive conformation in which the N terminus masks this domain. We demonstrate that the cell-adhesive domain functions in sporozoite development and hepatocyte invasion. Between these two events, the sporozoite must travel from the mosquito midgut to the mammalian liver, and N-terminal masking of the cell-adhesive domain maintains the sporozoite in a migratory state. In the mammalian host, proteolytic cleavage of CSP regulates the switch to an adhesive conformation, and the highly conserved region I plays a critical role in this process. If the CSP domain architecture is altered such that the celladhesive domain is constitutively exposed, the majority of sporozoites do not reach their target organs, and in the mammalian host, they initiate a blood stage infection directly from the inoculation site. These data provide structure-function information relevant to malaria vaccine development.
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U2 - 10.1084/jem.20101488
DO - 10.1084/jem.20101488
M3 - Article
C2 - 21262960
AN - SCOPUS:79951707136
VL - 208
SP - 341
EP - 356
JO - Journal of Experimental Medicine
JF - Journal of Experimental Medicine
SN - 0022-1007
IS - 2
ER -