Controlling protein stability in parasites
Nature Methods
Methods to regulate protein expression in two hazardous parasites are described in two reports in this week's Nature Methods, providing valuable tools for understanding disease development.
Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that can cause encephalitis and neurological diseases, and Plasmodium falciparum, a malaria parasite, have both had their genome sequenced. What is still lacking are methods to control protein expression on a large scale, so the effects of proteins on parasite biology and pathogenesis can be studied.
The research groups of Daniel Goldberg and Markus Meissner adapted a system, originally developed in mammalian cells, that allows them to trigger the degradation of any protein at will. The only pre-requisite is that the protein is coupled to a short peptide that makes protein stability dependent on the presence of another component, appropriately named Shield. If Shield is added to the parasites the targeted protein is stable, but if Shield is withdrawn, the protein is degraded and the effect of its loss on the parasite can be studied.
This fast and efficient method for regulating protein levels will allow a genome wide analysis of their roles in the parasite life cycle and the interaction with its host.
Author contact
Markus Meissner (University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 69120 Germany)
Tel: 0049 6221 566518; E-mail: markus.meissner@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Daniel Goldberg (Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110 United States of America)
Tel: 314-362-1514; E-mail: goldberg@borcim.wustl.edu
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