m5C methyltransferase NSUN3 regulates variant gene expression and development in blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum [RNA-seq]

C5 methylation of cytosine is a relatively abundant post-transcriptional modification in eukaryotes, and the NSUN family has been identified as an important executor of m5C modification. Currently, little is known about this family in Plasmodium spp. Therefore, we constructed a pfnsun3 gene knockdown strain and the knockdown efficiency was confirmed through growth curves and western blot experiments. The target genes of PfNSUN3 was obtained by RNA immunoprecipitation and high-throughput transcriptome sequencing experiments. Our data reveal that pfnsun3 is an indispensable post-transcriptional RNA modification in regulating variant gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum. Overall design: To explore the function of PfNSUN3 protein in regulating of gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum, we performed strictly synchronization and divided the parasites into GlcN-added and non-GlcN groups, then collected the total RNA samples in the next growth cycle at ring, trophozoite and schizont stages, respectively.