Short communicationGene disruption reveals a dispensable role for Plasmepsin VII in the Plasmodium berghei life cycle

- Generation of Plasmodium berghei Plasmepsin VII knock out by gene targeting strategy.
- Analysis of WT and Plasmepsin VII knock out development in mosquito and vertebrate host.
- Demonstrating a non-essential role of Plasmepsin VII in P. berghei life cycle.

Plasmepsins (PM), aspartic proteases of Plasmodium, comprises a family of ten proteins that perform critical functions in Plasmodium life cycle. Except VII and VIII, functions of the remaining plasmepsin members have been well characterized. Here, we have generated a mutant parasite lacking PM VII in Plasmodium berghei using reverse genetics approach. Systematic comparison of growth kinetics and infection in both mosquito and vertebrate host revealed that PM VII depleted mutants exhibited no defects in development and progressed normally throughout the parasite life cycle. These studies suggest a dispensable role for PM VII in Plasmodium berghei life cycle.

By generating Plasmepsin VII knock out, we show that this gene is not essential for blood, mosquito or liver stages of the Plasmodium berghei life cycle.136