Translational Control In Plasmodiuim falciparum

Plasmodium falciparum is a parasite that causes human malaria which remains one of the most important infectious diseases worldwide.

Managing this global emergency will require a deeper understanding of the resistance mechanisms developed by the parasite to survive in the presence of artemisnins,  as well as opening up new therapeutic avenues.

As of recently, mounting evidence converges to suggest a strong tie between the phenotypic characteristics of artemisinin resistance to general cellular stress response mechanisms.

In this project proposal, we suggest to conduct a comprehensive investigation on the systemicregulation of translation during stress responses in the parasite P. falciparum.

We will approach this by first establishing a deeper understanding of the ribosome and the tRNA biology in the parasite with the use of various molecular assays and subsequently decipher how the regulation of  two abundant ncRNA classes may affect the translatome and the functional proteome output during stress conditions.

Together with the preliminary data we have already obtained, this project aims to achieve the followings:1.

To characterize a novel and universally conserved ribosome associated factor in P.falciparum and its role in stress responses.2. To provide supporting evidence for the presence of functionally specializedribosomes.3. To identify common stress response pathways through studying the tRNAepitranscriptome.4.

To develop a high-throughput drug screening assay.