{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T14:57:40Z","timestamp":1780325860947,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,10]],"date-time":"2022-01-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1641772800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell Dev. Biol."],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic> undergoes a series of asexual replications in human erythrocytes after infection, which are effective targets for combatting malaria. Here, we report roles of an ApiAP2 transcription factor PfAP2-EXP2 (PF3D7_0611200) in the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle of <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>. PfAP2-EXP2 conditional knockdown resulted in an asexual growth defect but without an appreciable effect on parasite morphology. Further ChIP-seq analysis revealed that PfAP2-EXP2 targeted genes related to virulence and interaction between erythrocytes and parasites. Especially, PfAP2-EXP2 regulation of euchromatic genes does not depend on recognizing specific DNA sequences, while a CCCTAAACCC motif is found in its heterochromatic binding sites. Combined with transcriptome profiling, we suggest that PfAP2-EXP2 is participated in the intraerythrocytic development by affecting the expression of genes related to cell remodeling at the schizont stage. In summary, this study explores an ApiAP2 member plays an important role for the <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> blood-stage replication, which suggests a new perspective for malaria elimination.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcell.2021.782293","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,10]],"date-time":"2022-01-10T11:27:39Z","timestamp":1641814059000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["PfAP2-EXP2, an Essential Transcription Factor for the Intraerythrocytic Development of Plasmodium falciparum"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Xiaomin","family":"Shang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Changhong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fei","family":"Sheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaohui","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanting","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoqin","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mei","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1653","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btr261","article-title":"DREME: Motif Discovery in Transcription Factor ChIP-Seq Data","volume":"27","author":"Bailey","year":"2011","journal-title":"Bioinformatics"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3994","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gki709","article-title":"Discovery of the Principal Specific Transcription Factors of Apicomplexa and Their Implication for the Evolution of the AP2-Integrase DNA Binding Domains","volume":"33","author":"Balaji","year":"2005","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1009394","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1009394","article-title":"Transport Mechanisms at the Malaria Parasite-Host Cell Interface","volume":"17","author":"Beck","year":"2021","journal-title":"Plos Pathog."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2114","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btu170","article-title":"Trimmomatic: a Flexible Trimmer for Illumina Sequence Data","volume":"30","author":"Bolger","year":"2014","journal-title":"Bioinformatics"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"260","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2017.06.030","article-title":"Functional Profiling of a Plasmodium Genome Reveals an Abundance of Essential Genes","volume":"170","author":"Bushell","year":"2017","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1001165","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1001165","article-title":"Identification and Genome-wide Prediction of DNA Binding Specificities for the ApiAP2 Family of Regulators from the Malaria Parasite","volume":"6","author":"Campbell","year":"2010","journal-title":"Plos Pathog."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"102444","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isci.2021.102444","article-title":"The ApiAP2 Factor PfAP2-HC Is an Integral Component of Heterochromatin in the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium Falciparum","volume":"24","author":"Carrington","year":"2021","journal-title":"iScience"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25977","DOI":"10.1074\/jbc.M300865200","article-title":"PfSPATR, a Plasmodium Falciparum Protein Containing an Altered Thrombospondin Type I Repeat Domain Is Expressed at Several Stages of the Parasite Life Cycle and Is the Target of Inhibitory Antibodies","volume":"278","author":"Chattopadhyay","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. 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