Expression analysis of Plasmodium falciparum with MYST overexpression

Investigation of genome-wide gene expression changes in Plasmodium falciparum overexpressing PfMYST compared to the wild-type strain 3D7. After introducing a single copy of the full-length PfMYST expression cassette into the parasite genome, parasites showed higher levels of H4-K5, -K8, and -K12 acetylation, a faster progression of intraerythrocytic developmental cycle (IDC), and shorter schizont development time (duration), which led to significantly fewer merozoites developed in mature schizonts than the control. The parasites with PfMYST overexpression substantially increased the resistance to DNA-damaging agents. These findings were published in Miao, Fan et al Mol Microbiol 2010 (PMID: 20807207). To understand the underlying mechanisms, we studied changes in the transcriptomes during the IDC by expression microarray. A 12 chip study using total RNA recovered from six time points (with 8h intervals from ring to schizont stage) of wild-type asexual cultures of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 and six time points (with 8h intervals from ring to schizont stage) of asexual PfMYST-overexpression cultures. Each chip measures the expression level of 5,367 genes with 45-60 mer probes with two replicates on the array of 71618 probes.