Structural basis for chirality and directional motility of Plasmodium sporozoites

MISHA KUDRYASHEV ; SILVIA MÜNTER; LEANDRO LEMGRUBER; GEORGINA N. MONTAGNA; HENNING STAHLBERG; KAI MATUSCHEWSKI; MARKUS MEISSNER,; MAREK CYRKLAFF1; FRIEDRICH FRISCHKNECHT1

CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY (PRINT)

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2012

1462-5814

Plasmodium sporozoites can move at high speedfor several tens of minutes, which is essentialfor the initial stage of a malaria infection. Thecrescent-shaped sporozoites move on 2D substratespreferably in the same direction on circularpaths giving raise to helical paths in 3D matrices.Here we determined the structural basis that underliesthis type of movement. Immature, non-motilesporozoites were found to lack the subpellicularnetwork required for obtaining the crescentparasite shape. In vitro, parasites moving in thefavoured direction move faster and more persistentthan the few parasites that move in the oppositedirection. Photobleaching experiments showedthat sporozoites flip their ventral side up whenswitching the direction of migration. Cryo-electrontomography revealed a polarized arrangementof microtubules and polar rings towards thesubstrate in Plasmodium sporozoites, but notin the related parasite Toxoplasma gondii. As a consequence, secretory vesicles, which releaseproteins involved in adhesion, migration and invasionat the front end of the parasite, are deliveredtowards the substrate. The resulting chiral structureof the parasite appears to determine the uniquedirectionality of movement and could explain howthe sporozoite achieves rapid and sustained directionalmotility in the absence of external stimuli.