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).
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Daily Overview |
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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 | |
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Investigating CERLI1 and CERLI2 function during the invasion process of Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites into salivary glands of Anopheles mosquito and human liver cells. 1: University of Melbourne, School of BioScience, Australia; 2: Adelaide University, School of Biological Sciences, Australia Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites must successfully invade Anopheles mosquito salivary glands and human liver hepatocytes to establish infection. While CERLI1 and CERLI2 are known critical mediators of blood-stage invasion, their potential roles during these sporozoite-specific events remain unexplored. This study investigates CERLI1 and CERLI2 function during sporozoite transmission. Using CRISPR/Cas9, we generated transgenic parasite lines with inducible knockouts for CERLI1 and CERLI2. Phenotypic analyses revealed that inducing these knockouts significantly reduces the sporozoite load within the salivary glands of Anopheles mosquitoes. Furthermore, utilizing ultrastructure expansion microscopy (U-ExM), we demonstrated that this impaired salivary gland colonization correlates with structural defects in the rhoptry organelles. Collectively, our findings establish CERLI1 and CERLI2 as essential, multi-stage mediators of the Plasmodium invasion machinery. Elucidating their function in the mosquito vector, alongside pending investigations into hepatocyte entry, provides vital insights into the fundamental biology of parasite transmission. | |