Translational repression (TR) plays an important role
in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression
and embryonic development in metazoans. TR
also regulates the expression of a subset of the
cytoplasmic mRNA population during development
of fertilized female gametes of the unicellular
malaria parasite, Plasmodium spp. which results
in the formation of a polar and motile form, the
ookinete. We report the conserved and sex-specific
regulatory role of either the 3’- or 5’-UTR of a subset
of translationally repressed mRNA species as
shown by almost complete inhibition of expression
of a GFP reporter protein in the female gametocyte.
A U-rich, TR-associated element, identified previously
in the 3’-UTR of TR-associated transcripts,
played an essential role in mediating TR and a
similar region could be found in the 5’-UTR shown in
this study to be active in TR. The silencing effect of
this 5’-UTR was shown to be independent of its
position relative to its ORF, as transposition to a
location 3’ of the ORF did not affect TR. These
results demonstrate for the first time in a unicellular
organism that the 5’ or the 3’-UTR of TR-associated
transcripts play an important and conserved role in
mediating TR in female gametocytes
