Fig. 5: Conditional knockdown of PbARK1 affects male gametogony, disrupting parasite transmission. | Nature Communications

Fig. 5: Conditional knockdown of PbARK1 affects male gametogony, disrupting parasite transmission.

From: Plasmodium ARK1 regulates spindle formation during atypical mitosis and forms a divergent chromosomal passenger complex

Fig. 5: Conditional knockdown of PbARK1 affects male gametogony, disrupting parasite transmission.The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

a qRT-PCR showing normalised expression of PbARK1 transcripts in WT-GFP and ark1PTD parasites. Mean ± SEM. n = 3 (WT-GFP) and 5 (ark1PTD) independent experiments. **P < 0.01 (P = 0.006), two-sided Welch’s t test. b Exflagellation centres per field at 15 min post-activation. n = 3 independent experiments ( > 7 fields per experiment). Mean ± SEM. ****P < 0.0001 (P = 1.6 × 10–8), two-sided Welch’s t test. c Percentage ookinete conversion. n = 3 independent experiments ( > 100 cells). Mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001 (P = 0.00012), two-sided Welch’s t test. d Total GFP-positive oocysts per infected mosquito in ark1PTD compared to WT-GFP parasites at 7-, 14-, and 21 days post-infection. Mean ± SEM. n = 3 independent experiments. Statistical significance was determined using two-sided Welch’s t tests. **P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. P = 0.0009 (Day 7), 1.2 × 10–8 (Day 14), and 1.0 × 10–5 (Day 21). e Midguts at ×10 and ×63 magnification showing oocysts of ark1PTD and WT-GFP lines at 14-, and 21 days post-infection (n > 20 oocysts, 3 biological replicates). Scale bars: 50 μm (10 × ) and 20 μm (63 × ). f The diameter of GFP-positive oocysts in ark1PTD compared to WT-GFP parasites at 7-, 14-, and 21 days post-infection. Mean ± SEM. n = 3 independent experiments. Statistical significance was determined using two-sided Welch’s t tests. ****P < 0.0001. P = 2.2 × 10–8 (Day 7), 5.0 × 10–5 (Day 14), and 1.4 × 10–10 (Day 21). g Expansion microscopy images of WT-GFP and ark1PTD male gametocytes at 8 min or 15 min post-activation (mpa). Three images on the left show maximum intensity projections of whole-cell z-stack images labelled with NHS-ester (grey), α-tubulin (green) and Hoechst (DNA - blue). The three images on the right show magnified views of the areas enclosed by the magenta squares. BB: basal body, BBs: basal bodies (clumped), IM: inner MTOC, A: axoneme. Images are representative of more than 7 cells analysed across 3 independent experiments. The scale bars are scaled by an expansion factor of 4.954. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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