Scholarlink

<p>Malaria remains prevalent globally despite various intervention strategies aimed at preventing its transmission. With the decreasing effectiveness of antimalarial drugs, medicinal plant extracts have been proposed as alternatives. Iso-mukaadial acetate extracted from <i>Warburgia salutaris</i> has shown anti-plasmodial activity, but the mechanism of inhibition is unknown. In this study, RNA sequencing analysis of <i>P. falciparum</i> NF54 strain treated with IMA was conducted to determine the possible targets of IMA. The expression profiles of <i>P. falciparum</i> genes regulated by IMA and chloroquine (antimalarial control) during the intraerythrocytic stage were analyzed with gene ontology tools, including PlasmoDB, ShinyGO and g: Profiler. IMA and chloroquine upregulated genes linked to parasite biological processes and cell adhesion molecular binding functions, including <i>Pf</i>EMP1, RIFIN, and STEVOR. Chloroquine specifically downregulated DNA replication processes involving DNA replication licensing factors MCM3 and DNA helicase, while IMA downregulated peptidyl-proline modification and glycolytic pathways. KEGG analysis suggested glycolysis-gluconeogenesis and pentose phosphate pathway enzymes (e.g., glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-6-phosphogluconolactonase) as theoretical IMA targets, whose suppression could hypothetically reduce ATP and NADPH production, weakening parasite energy supply and antioxidant defenses. The inhibition of DNA replication components (MCM complex, DNA topoisomerases) by IMA, and the downregulation of DNA replication/repair proteins by chloroquine, may both impair genome integrity, contributing to the observed anti-plasmodial effects. IMA treatment was assumed to be associated with impairment of parasite energy metabolism, redox balance and DNA replication machinery. These effects differ from chloroquine, which primarily targeted DNA replication and repair processes, yet both drugs upregulated adhesion-associated gene families. Changes in the expression of metabolic and replication genes induced by IMA suggest the compounds potential as an anti-plasmodial candidate, warranting further biochemical validation of its mechanism of effect.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

The impact of Iso-mukaadial acetate on Plasmodium falciparum transcriptional gene regulation

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月27日

查看全文
  • Nicolaas Salomane,
  • Thendo Mafuna,
  • Farhahna Allie,
  • Jabu Sam Mahlangu,
  • Robyn Lyenne van Zyl,
  • Ofentse Pooe,
  • Mthokozisi Simelane

摘要

Malaria remains prevalent globally despite various intervention strategies aimed at preventing its transmission. With the decreasing effectiveness of antimalarial drugs, medicinal plant extracts have been proposed as alternatives. Iso-mukaadial acetate extracted from Warburgia salutaris has shown anti-plasmodial activity, but the mechanism of inhibition is unknown. In this study, RNA sequencing analysis of P. falciparum NF54 strain treated with IMA was conducted to determine the possible targets of IMA. The expression profiles of P. falciparum genes regulated by IMA and chloroquine (antimalarial control) during the intraerythrocytic stage were analyzed with gene ontology tools, including PlasmoDB, ShinyGO and g: Profiler. IMA and chloroquine upregulated genes linked to parasite biological processes and cell adhesion molecular binding functions, including PfEMP1, RIFIN, and STEVOR. Chloroquine specifically downregulated DNA replication processes involving DNA replication licensing factors MCM3 and DNA helicase, while IMA downregulated peptidyl-proline modification and glycolytic pathways. KEGG analysis suggested glycolysis-gluconeogenesis and pentose phosphate pathway enzymes (e.g., glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-6-phosphogluconolactonase) as theoretical IMA targets, whose suppression could hypothetically reduce ATP and NADPH production, weakening parasite energy supply and antioxidant defenses. The inhibition of DNA replication components (MCM complex, DNA topoisomerases) by IMA, and the downregulation of DNA replication/repair proteins by chloroquine, may both impair genome integrity, contributing to the observed anti-plasmodial effects. IMA treatment was assumed to be associated with impairment of parasite energy metabolism, redox balance and DNA replication machinery. These effects differ from chloroquine, which primarily targeted DNA replication and repair processes, yet both drugs upregulated adhesion-associated gene families. Changes in the expression of metabolic and replication genes induced by IMA suggest the compounds potential as an anti-plasmodial candidate, warranting further biochemical validation of its mechanism of effect.