Plasmodium kinesin-8X associates with mitotic spindles and is essential for oocyst development during parasite proliferation and transmission
Fig 5
Pbkinesin-8X is essential for oocyst development and sporogony.
(A) Male gametogenesis (exflagellation) of Δkinesin-8X line (black bar) compared with WT-GFP line (white bar) measured as the number of exflagellation centres per field. Mean ± SD. n = 5 independent experiments. (B) Ookinete conversion as a percentage for Δkinesin-8X (black bar) and WT-GFP (white bar) parasites. Ookinetes were identified using 13.1 antibody as a surface marker and defined as those cells that differentiated successfully into elongated ‘banana shaped’ ookinetes. Mean ± SD. n = 5 independent experiments. (C) Total number of GFP-positive oocysts per infected mosquito in Δkinesin-8X (black bar) compared to WT-GFP (white bar) parasites at 7, 10, 14 and 21-day post-infection (dpi). Mean ± SD. n = 3 independent experiments (>15 mosquitoes for each) *p≤0.05, **p≤0.01. (D) Mid guts at 10x magnification showing oocysts of Δkinesin-8X and WT-GFP lines at 7, 10, 14 and 21 dpi. Scale bar = 50 μm. * p ≤ 0.05 and ** p ≤ 0.01 (E) Mid guts at 63x magnification showing oocysts of Δkinesin-8X and WT-GFP lines at 7, 10, 14 and 21 dpi. Scale bar = 20 μm. (F) Total number of sporozoites in oocysts of Δkinesin-8X (black bar) and WT-GFP (white bar) parasites at 14 and 21 dpi. Mean ± SD. n = 3 independent experiments. (G) Total number of sporozoites in salivary glands of Δkinesin-8X (black bar) and WT-GFP (white bar) parasites. Bar diagram shows mean ± SD. n = 3 independent experiments (H) Bite back experiments showing no transmission of Δkinesin-8X parasites (black bar) where WT-GFP parasites (white bar) show successful transmission from mosquito to mice. Mean ± SD. n = 3 independent experiments (I) Rescue experiment showing male allele of Δkinesin-8X is affected.