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SIP2 is the master transcription factor of Plasmodium merozoite formation
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Malaria, one of the most serious infectious diseases worldwide, is caused by the proliferation of Plasmodium parasites through repeated cycles of intraerythrocytic development. The parasite replicates via schizogony in host erythrocytes, producing multiple progeny merozoites that invade new erythrocytes. Although merozoite formation is the most crucial step in malaria pathogenesis, its molecular mechanism remains unclear. SIP2 is an AP2 transcription factor expressed during schizogony and is particularly conserved among erythrocyte-infecting apicomplexan parasites. Here, we reveal that SIP2 in Plasmodium berghei (PbSIP2) functions as the master transcription factor for merozoite formation. Conditional disruption of pbsip2 resulted in developmental arrest before merozoite formation and notable down-regulation of merozoite-related genes. ChIP-seq showed that PbSIP2 comprehensively activated merozoite-related genes by binding to previously reported cis-regulatory elements of merozoite invasion-related genes, including the bipartite motif (TGCAN 4–6 GTGCA). Collectively, our results indicate that SIP2 is a transcription factor that establishes erythrocyte infectivity and may have an evolutionary origin from the common ancestor of erythrocyte-infecting apicomplexan parasites.
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![Fig. 1. Sequence features of PbSIP2 and its expression during asexual-blood stage development. (A) Schematic illustration of PbSIP2. Blue boxes show the AP2 domains. The NLS was predicted using cNLS Mapper (http://nls-mapper.iab.keio.ac.jp/cgi-bin/NLS_Mapper_form.cgi) and indicated using a yellow box. (B) Alignment of amino acid (AA) sequences of PbSIP2 orthologs in Plasmodium by the ClustalW program in Mega X (P. berghei, PbANKA_0102900; P. falciparum, PF3D7_0604100; Plasmodium malariae, PmUG01_11058700; Plasmodium vivax, PVP01_1144800; Plasmodium knowlesi, PKNH_1146400; Plasmodium gallinaceum, PGAL8A_00132600). Amino acid sequences conserved in all aligned sequences are indicated by blue boxes. Yellow and red bars indicate a β sheet and α helix, respectively. Blue bars show a sequence for an AP2 domain. (C) Alignment of amino acid sequences of PbSIP2, PfSIP2, and BLASTP-detected proteins (Hepatocystis spp., VWU52144; Babesia Bovis, XP_001610230; Theileria Parva, XP_764727). Amino acid sequences conserved in all aligned sequences are indicated by yellow boxes. Regions wherein more than 10 amino acids are continuously conserved are indicated with asterisks. (D) Taxonomic tree of Apicomplexa. Orders in which PbSIP2 is conserved are indicated in a blue box. (E) Schematic illustration of putative SIP2 orthologs in Apicomplexa. Blue boxes show the AP2 domains, and NLSs are indicated using a yellow box. (F) Expression of PbSIP2 in asexual blood stage of the PbSIP2::GFP. Rings and trophozoites were detected from the peripheral blood, and schizonts were observed in synchronized cultures. Nuclei were stained with Hoechst 33342. Scale bar, 5 μm. (G) Quantification of GFP-positive cells for PbSIP2::GFP with each number of nuclei. Cells were counted by fluorescent microscopic analysis. At least 30 cells were assessed for schizonts with each number of nuclei [>8 (mero.) indicates merozoites]. hpi, hours post-injection.](/paper-figures/b006f7214e1549398f7231016e633729/sip2-is-the-master-transcription-factor-of-i-plasmodium-i-merozoite-formation-figure-1.jpg)



![Fig. 5. DNA binding property of PbSIP2 and function of its binding motif as a cis-regulatory element. (A) IGV image for DIP-seq using recombinant AP2 domains of PbSIP2 on the chromosome 1. Histograms show row read coverage of IP data at each base. (B) A motif enriched within 50 bp from peak summits of DIP-seq. The logo was depicted using WebLogo. P valuelimit is P value less than 5.0 × 10−324 (smallest positive real number on the R platform). An arrow indicates slight enrichment of G and A in the logo. (C) Six-base motifs enriched in the DIP-seq peaks. RGTGCA motif is indicated in yellow, and its one-base shifted motifs are indicated in light yellow. P valueave is the average P value derived from the seven separate motif enrichment analyses (the detail is described in Materials and Methods). Motifs were ranked along their P valueave. (D) Violin plot showing the distribution of fold enrichment values for the ChIP-seq peaks with RGTGCA (blue) and others (gray). The corresponding box plots are shown inside. The P value was calculated by two-tailed Student’s t test. (E) IGV image showing the ChIP-seq peak upstream of rop14 and genomic sequence around RGTGCA in the peak region. Sanger sequence result for PbSIP2::GFPCas9_cismut is shown under the wild-type sequence. The target region of single guide RNA used for generating PbSIP2::GFPCas9_cismut is indicated on the sequence. (F) ChIP-qPCR analysis of PbSIP2 at the mutated site upstream of rop14. Error bars indicate the standard error from three biologically independent experiments. The P values were calculated by two-tailed Student’s t test (i.e., P value > 0.01) [rop14: PBANKA_0111600, ralp1: PBANKA_0619700, ron4: PBANKA_0932000, trap: PBANKA_1349800]. (G) RT-qPCR analysis of rop14 transcripts between PbSIP2::GFPCas9 and PbSIP2::GFPCas9_cismut. Error bars and P value were generated same as (F).](/paper-figures/70284aa1370a4f68ad2a5b5b8bed8655/sip2-is-the-master-transcription-factor-of-i-plasmodium-i-merozoite-formation-figure-5.jpg)

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Metadata
- Authors
- Nishi, T., Kaneko, I., & Yuda, M.
- Affiliations
- Mie University (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Yuda, Masao
- Venue
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2025-03-21
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- eads5458-eads5458
- ISSN
- 2375-2548 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11927625
- OpenAlex
- W4408718230
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 4.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Science Advances (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (24K10187, 23K27400)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Malaria Research and Control
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Parasitology › Toxoplasma gondii Research Studies
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Parasitology › Bird parasitology and diseases
- Keywords
- SiP2, Plasmodium berghei, schizogony, AP2 transcription factor, erythrocyte invasion, transcriptional regulation, cis-regulatory elements, conditional gene disruption, malaria pathogenesis
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Erythrocytes, Gene Expression Regulation, Malaria, Plasmodium berghei, Transcription Factors, Protozoan Proteins, Mice, Merozoites
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