Identification of a nuclear localization signal in the Plasmodium falciparum CTP: phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase enzyme

Abstract

AbstractThe phospholipid biosynthesis of the malaria parasite,Plasmodium falciparumis a key process for its survival and its inhibition is a validated antimalarial therapeutic approach. The second and rate-limiting step of the de novo phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis is catalysed by CTP: phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (PfCCT), which has a key regulatory function within the pathway. Here, we investigate the functional impact of the key structural differences and their respective role in the structurally unique pseudo-heterodimerPfCCT protein in a heterologous cellular context using the thermosensitive CCT-mutant CHO-MT58 cell line. We found that aPlasmodium-specific lysine-rich insertion within the catalytic domain ofPfCCT acts as a nuclear localization signal and its deletion decreases the nuclear propensity of the protein in the model cell line. We further showed that the putative membrane-binding domain also affected the nuclear localization of the protein. Moreover, activation of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis by phospholipase C treatment induces the partial nuclear-to-cytoplasmic translocation ofPfCCT. We additionally investigated the cellular function of severalPfCCT truncated constructs in a CHO-MT58 based rescue assay. In absence of the endogenous CCT activity we observed that truncated constructs lacking the lysine-rich insertion, or the membrane-binding domain provided similar cell survival ratio as the full lengthPfCCT protein.