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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
ISSN: 1678-8060 EISSN: 1678-8060
Vol. 95, No. 3, 2000, pp. 329-337
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Bioline Code: oc00055
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Vol. 95, No. 3, 2000, pp. 329-337
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Isolation and Identification of Actin-binding Proteins in Plasmodium falciparum by Affinity Chromatography
Claudia Forero & Moiss Wasserman
Abstract
The invasion of the erythrocyte by Plasmodium falciparum depends on the ability of the merozoite to move through the membrane invagination. This ability is probably mediated by actin dependent motors. Using affinity columns with G-actin and F-actin we isolated actin binding proteins from the parasite. By immunoblotting and immunoprecipitation with specific antibodies we identified the presence of tropomyosin, myosin, a-actinin, and two different actins in the eluate corresponding to F-actin binding proteins. In addition to these, a 240-260 kDa doublet, different in size from the erythrocyte spectrin, reacted with an antibody against human spectrin. All the above mentioned proteins were metabolically radiolabeled when the parasite was cultured with 35S-methionine. The presence of these proteins in P. falciparum is indicative of a complex cytoskeleton and supports the proposed role for an actin-myosin motor during invasion.
Keywords
actin, a-actinin, malaria, myosin, spectrin, tropomyosin, Plasmodium falciparum, affinity chromatography
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