Genetic approach towards a vaccine against malaria

AbstractMalaria is a major concern for international health authorities. Millions of people contract it every year in the world due to aparasite of the Plasmodium genus. Due to the complexity of the parasite biology and genetics, there is currently no vaccineagainst the disease. However, due to the great resistance both to the medicines and to the insecticides used to combat the disease,it has become essential to obtain a vaccine as the necessary tool to prevent transmission and eliminate the disease. Thebibliometric data indicate that interest in vaccines has been growing steadily since the 1980s. But nowadays, a powerful toolis used: the Plasmodium genome. This allows us to improve the fight against the disease. Knowing the sequences of the genesthat favor the appearance of drug resistance, or those that encode for proteins with greater antigenic response, is a tool that canbecome fundamental. This article reviews the state of the art on vaccines and genetics, in the fight against malaria, and analyzesthe fixed photo that the worldwide research on the disease poses.Keywords Malaria . Genes . Vaccine . Plasmodium . Worldwid

A single arabidopsis gene encodes two differentially targeted geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase isoforms

A wide diversity of isoprenoids is produced in different plant compartments. Most groups of isoprenoids synthesized in plastids, and some produced elsewhere in the plant cell derive from geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) synthesized by GGPP synthase (GGPPS) enzymes. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), five genes appear to encode GGPPS isoforms localized in plastids (two), the endoplasmic reticulum (two), and mitochondria (one). However, the loss of function of the plastid-targeted GGPPS11 isoform (referred to as G11) is sufficient to cause lethality. Here, we show that the absence of a strong transcription initiation site in the G11 gene results in the production of transcripts of different lengths. The longer transcripts encode an isoform with a functional plastid import sequence that produces GGPP for the major groups of photosynthesis-related plastidial isoprenoids. However, shorter transcripts are also produced that lack the first translation initiation codon and rely on a second in-frame ATG codon to produce an enzymatically active isoform lacking this N-terminal domain. This short enzyme localizes in the cytosol and is essential for embryo development. Our results confirm that the production of differentially targeted enzyme isoforms from the same gene is a central mechanism to control the biosynthesis of isoprenoid precursors in different plant cell compartments.</p

Innovation, conservation, and repurposing of gene function in root cell type development

Plant species have evolved myriads of solutions, including complex cell type development and regulation, to adapt to dynamic environments. To understand this cellular diversity, we profiled tomato root cell type translatomes. Using xylem differentiation in tomato, examples of functional innovation, repurposing, and conservation of transcription factors are described, relative to the model plant Arabidopsis. Repurposing and innovation of genes are further observed within an exodermis regulatory network and illustrate its function. Comparative translatome analyses of rice, tomato, and Arabidopsis cell populations suggest increased expression conservation of root meristems compared with other homologous populations. In addition, the functions of constitutively expressed genes are more conserved than those of cell type/tissue-enriched genes. These observations suggest that higher order properties of cell type and pan-cell type regulation are evolutionarily conserved between plants and animals

Innovation, conservation, and repurposing of gene function in root cell type development

Plant species have evolved myriads of solutions, including complex cell type development and regulation, to adapt to dynamic environments. To understand this cellular diversity, we profiled tomato root cell type translatomes. Using xylem differentiation in tomato, examples of functional innovation, repurposing, and conservation of transcription factors are described, relative to the model plant Arabidopsis. Repurposing and innovation of genes are further observed within an exodermis regulatory network and illustrate its function. Comparative translatome analyses of rice, tomato, and Arabidopsis cell populations suggest increased expression conservation of root meristems compared with other homologous populations. In addition, the functions of constitutively expressed genes are more conserved than those of cell type/tissue-enriched genes. These observations suggest that higher order properties of cell type and pan-cell type regulation are evolutionarily conserved between plants and animals

Terpene Specialized Metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana

Terpenes constitute the largest class of plant secondary (or specialized) metabolites, which are compounds of ecological function in plant defense or the attraction of beneficial organisms. Using biochemical and genetic approaches, nearly all Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) enzymes of the core biosynthetic pathways producing the 5-carbon building blocks of terpenes have been characterized and closer insight has been gained into the transcriptional and posttranscriptional/translational mechanisms regulating these pathways. The biochemical function of most prenyltransferases, the downstream enzymes that condense the C5-precursors into central 10-, 15-, and 20-carbon prenyldiphosphate intermediates, has been described, although the function of several isoforms of C20-prenyltranferases is not well understood. Prenyl diphosphates are converted to a variety of C10-, C15-, and C20-terpene products by enzymes of the terpene synthase (TPS) family. Genomic organization of the 32 Arabidopsis TPS genes indicates a species-specific divergence of terpene synthases with tissue- and cell-type specific expression profiles that may have emerged under selection pressures by different organisms. Pseudogenization, differential expression, and subcellular segregation of TPS genes and enzymes contribute to the natural variation of terpene biosynthesis among Arabidopsis accessions (ecotypes) and species. Arabidopsis will remain an important model to investigate the metabolic organization and molecular regulatory networks of terpene specialized metabolism in relation to the biological activities of terpenes