Plasmodium falciparum Epigenomics

The development of Plasmodium species throughout their life cycle is controlled by coordinated changes in gene expression. A relative paucity of specific transcription factors points towards the involvement of complementary regulatory mechanisms to control gene expression. During the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle, the only regions of the genome organized into heterochromatin are those harboring virulence gene families. These genes and a few isolated loci are marked by H3K9me3, while the rest of the genome contains activating histone PTMs. The goal of this study was to compare H3K9me3 marking between the IDC (trophozoite stage) and sexually differentiated gametocytes (stage IV/V). Understanding differences in chromatin organization between these two stages will give insight into mechanisms regulating gene expression in the parasite.