5-methylcytosine modification-mediated mRNA stabilization is associated with sexual development of malaria parasites [Half-life]

5-methylcytosine (m5C) is emerging as an important epi-transcriptome modification involving RNA stability and translation efficiency in various biological processes. However, it remains unclear how m5C contributes to the dynamic regulation of transcriptome during the development of Plasmodium. Here, we identified the presence of 5-methylcytosine (m5C) modification in rodent (P. yoelii) and human (P. falciparum) malaria parasites transcriptome and depicted a comprehensive characterization landscape of m5C mRNA modification at single-nucleotide resolution (RNA-BisSeq) from asexual replicating stage to gametocyte development. Through transcriptome-wide profiling of mRNA m5C modification, we found that m5C modified mRNA displayed higher stability than non-m5C modified mRNA during the development of Plasmodium. We identified Plasmodium ortholog of NSUN2 as an mRNA m5C methyltransferase in malaria parasites. LC–MS/MS and RNA-BisSeq analysis revealed a large decrease in mRNA m5C modification at transcriptome-wide level upon Nsun2 knockout. Absence of Nsun2 severely reduced gametocyte production in either rodent (P. yoelii) or human (P. falciparum) malaria parasites. Meanwhile, some genes related to gametocytogenesis displayed a great reduction of m5C modification. Together, our data provides comprehensive mRNA m5C profiles in Plasmodium genus and reveals m5C modification-mediated mRNA stability as a novel mechanism regulating sexual differentiation of a unicellular eukaryote. mRNAs were extracted from parasites harvested at sexual gametocyte (G) stage in P. yoelii.