Natural antisense transcripts in Plasmodium falciparum isolates from patients with complicated malaria

• Published in: Experimental parasitology Vol. 141; pp. 39 - 54
• Main Authors: Subudhi, Amit Kumar, Boopathi, P.A., Garg, Shilpi, Middha, Sheetal, Acharya, Jyoti, Pakalapati, Deepak, Saxena, Vishal, Aiyaz, Mohammed, Orekondy, Harsha B., Mugasimangalam, Raja C., Sirohi, Paramendra, Kochar, Sanjay K., Kochar, Dhanpat K., Das, Ashis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-06-2014
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Chromosome Mapping; Complicated malaria; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental - genetics; Gene Ontology; Genome, Protozoan; Genome-Wide Association Study; Genotyping Techniques; Humans; Malaria, Falciparum - complications; Malaria, Falciparum - parasitology; Male; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Annotation; Natural antisense transcript; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium falciparum - classification; Plasmodium falciparum - genetics; Plasmodium falciparum - isolation & purification; Plasmodium falciparum - metabolism; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Antisense - analysis; RNA, Antisense - blood; RNA, Protozoan - isolation & purification; Strand specific microarray; Transcription, Genetic; Uncomplicated malaria; Young Adult; GPI; DF; F1P; Gln; IDC; 2OG; PFC; R5P; S7P; NcASP; Glu; Plasmodium falciparum; X5P; Man1P; 1,3 BPG; Strand specific microarray; Natural antisense transcript; PFU; E4P; Suc; F6P; GlcN6P; 6PGL; PRPP; 2PG; DHAP; HAS-LS; OAA; Cit; GlcN; NATs; ACON-C; HS-LAS; F1,6BP; Mal; Man; GlcNAc6P; GADP; 6PGa; UDP-GlcNAc; Uncomplicated malaria; Ac-CoA; NC-AS/S; Asn; Suc-CoA; Asp; Fum; G6P; GDP-Man; Complicated malaria; Pyr; 3PG; Glyc; Lac; Ru5P; PEP; GlycP; ICT; Man6P; Glc; GlcNAc1P
• ISSN: 0014-4894; 1090-2449
• DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2014.03.008

[Display omitted]
•This is the first report on NATs in Plasmodium falciparum from patient isolates.•A total of 797 NATs have been detected of which 545 are unique to this study.•The NATs map to a broad range of biochemical/ metabolic pathways.•The majority of NATs were positively correlated with its sense counterpart.•Complication specific change in antisense/sense transcripts ratio was observed.
Mechanisms regulating gene expression in malaria parasites are not well understood. Little is known about how the parasite regulates its gene expression during transition from one developmental stage to another and in response to various environmental conditions. Parasites in a diseased host face environments which differ from the static, well adapted in vitro conditions. Parasites thus need to adapt quickly and effectively to these conditions by establishing transcriptional states which are best suited for better survival. With the discovery of natural antisense transcripts (NATs) in this parasite and considering the various proposed mechanisms by which NATs might regulate gene expression, it has been speculated that these might be playing a critical role in gene regulation. We report here the diversity of NATs in this parasite, using isolates taken directly from patients with differing clinical symptoms caused by malaria infection. Using a custom designed strand specific whole genome microarray, a total of 797 NATs targeted against annotated loci have been detected. Out of these, 545 NATs are unique to this study. The majority of NATs were positively correlated with the expression pattern of the sense transcript. However, 96 genes showed a change in sense/antisense ratio on comparison between uncomplicated and complicated disease conditions. The antisense transcripts map to a broad range of biochemical/metabolic pathways, especially pathways pertaining to the central carbon metabolism and stress related pathways. Our data strongly suggests that a large group of NATs detected here are unannotated transcription units antisense to annotated gene models. The results reveal a previously unknown set of NATs that prevails in this parasite, their differential regulation in disease conditions and mapping to functionally well annotated genes. The results detailed here call for studies to deduce the possible mechanism of action of NATs, which would further help in understanding the in vivo pathological adaptations of these parasites.