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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

CP4.1: Cells, Molecules and Genes – Tribute to Bob Sinden - 10 min talks
Location: Lecture Theatre 1
Session Chair: Alicja (Ala) Tabor, The University Of Queensland
Session Chair: Alexander Gofton, CSIRO

Presentation 3

A HAP2-like protein interacts with vaccine candidate Pfs230 and is essential for efficient malaria transmission

Ezra Bekkering¹, Sanne Grievink¹, Mariangela Longobardi¹, Rianne Stoter¹, Geert-Jan van Gemert¹, Randy Yoo^2,3, Jean-Philippe Julien^2,3, Taco Kooij¹, Matthijs Jore¹

1: Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; 2: Program in Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Canada; 3: Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Transmission-blocking vaccines aim to induce antibody responses that prevent human-to-mosquito malaria transmission by targeting the parasite inside the mosquito midgut. The furthest advanced transmission-blocking vaccine candidates are based on the Pfs230:Pfs48/45 complex. During the preparation of a cryo-EM structure of the endogenous Pfs230:Pfs48/45 complex, we found a previously unidentified protein that interacts with Pfs230. This protein is without described function and is conserved throughout all Plasmodium spp.. Based on structural homology modelling, we have tentatively dubbed this protein PfHAP2-novel (PfHAP2n). We generated a PfHAP2n^KO parasite line that is able to undergo gametocytogenesis and gametogenesis. However, just like Pfs230^KO parasites, male microgametes are no longer able to attach to erythrocytes and no longer form “exflagellation centres”. PfHAP2n^KOparasites have a strong, male-dependent reduction in mosquito infectivity. We have recombinantly produced PfHAP2n, and we are testing whether these constructs can elicit malaria transmission-blocking antibodies in immunization studies. Our results have uncovered a novel protein that is essential for malaria transmission, which might be a suitable target for future transmission-blocking vaccine development.