Cargando…

“Reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation

Protozoan parasites continue to cause a significant health and economic burden worldwide. As infectious organisms, they pose unique and difficult challenges due to a level of conservation of critical eukaryotic cellular pathways with their hosts. Gene regulation has been pinpointed as an essential p...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fleck, Krista, Nitz, Malorie, Jeffers, Victoria
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8638923/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34855919
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010056
_version_ 1784609041464426496
author Fleck, Krista
Nitz, Malorie
Jeffers, Victoria
author_facet Fleck, Krista
Nitz, Malorie
Jeffers, Victoria
author_sort Fleck, Krista
collection PubMed
description Protozoan parasites continue to cause a significant health and economic burden worldwide. As infectious organisms, they pose unique and difficult challenges due to a level of conservation of critical eukaryotic cellular pathways with their hosts. Gene regulation has been pinpointed as an essential pathway with enough divergence to warrant investigation into therapeutically targeting. Examination of human parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum, Toxoplasma gondii, and kinetoplastids have revealed that epigenetic mechanisms play a key role in their gene regulation. The enzymes involved in adding and removing epigenetic posttranslational modifications (PTMs) have historically been the focus of study. However, the reader proteins that recognize and bind PTMs, initiating recruitment of chromatin-modifying and transcription complexes, are now being realized for their critical role in regulation and their potential as drug targets. In this review, we highlight the current knowledge on epigenetic reader proteins in model parasitic protozoa, focusing on the histone acyl- and methyl-reading domains. With this knowledge base, we compare differences between medically relevant parasites, discuss conceivable functions of these understudied proteins, indicate gaps in knowledge, and provide current progress in drug development.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8638923
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-86389232021-12-03 “Reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation Fleck, Krista Nitz, Malorie Jeffers, Victoria PLoS Pathog Review Protozoan parasites continue to cause a significant health and economic burden worldwide. As infectious organisms, they pose unique and difficult challenges due to a level of conservation of critical eukaryotic cellular pathways with their hosts. Gene regulation has been pinpointed as an essential pathway with enough divergence to warrant investigation into therapeutically targeting. Examination of human parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum, Toxoplasma gondii, and kinetoplastids have revealed that epigenetic mechanisms play a key role in their gene regulation. The enzymes involved in adding and removing epigenetic posttranslational modifications (PTMs) have historically been the focus of study. However, the reader proteins that recognize and bind PTMs, initiating recruitment of chromatin-modifying and transcription complexes, are now being realized for their critical role in regulation and their potential as drug targets. In this review, we highlight the current knowledge on epigenetic reader proteins in model parasitic protozoa, focusing on the histone acyl- and methyl-reading domains. With this knowledge base, we compare differences between medically relevant parasites, discuss conceivable functions of these understudied proteins, indicate gaps in knowledge, and provide current progress in drug development. Public Library of Science 2021-12-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8638923/ /pubmed/34855919 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010056 Text en © 2021 Fleck et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Review
Fleck, Krista
Nitz, Malorie
Jeffers, Victoria
“Reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation
title “Reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation
title_full “Reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation
title_fullStr “Reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation
title_full_unstemmed “Reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation
title_short “Reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation
title_sort “reading” a new chapter in protozoan parasite transcriptional regulation
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8638923/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34855919
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010056
work_keys_str_mv AT fleckkrista readinganewchapterinprotozoanparasitetranscriptionalregulation
AT nitzmalorie readinganewchapterinprotozoanparasitetranscriptionalregulation
AT jeffersvictoria readinganewchapterinprotozoanparasitetranscriptionalregulation