Authors

Discussion

There is mounting evidence that post-transcriptional regulation plays a significant role in regulating protein expression throughout the Plasmodium lifecycle; for example, Plasmodium species express only a third of proteins associated with regulating transcription compared to mammalian cells. Post-transcriptional repression, mediated by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), regulates protein synthesis in eukaryotes. ~200 RBPs have been identified in Plasmodium speciesbut only 4 proteins have been functionally characterised. Recently, a novel RNA-binding domain has been identified in a family of apicomplexan proteins, called RNA-binding abundant in Apicomplexans (RAP) proteins. 10 RAP genes are encoded in Plasmodium species, thought to be putative RBPs, however their functional roles have not yet been characterised. Here we describe the initial exploration of the RAP protein, RAP1, using Plasmodium berghei as a model. To explore the subcellular localisation of RAP1, endogenous RAP1 was C-terminally tagged with GFP. Live-cell imaging revealedRAP1-GFP is expressed throughout the lifecycle and co-localises with mitochondrial markers. Translation in Plasmodium is known to occur in mitochondria; therefore RAP1 may have important mitochondrial RBP function. To discover the functional roles of RAP1, reverse genetics and identification of RAP1’s interaction networks are currently being attempted.