恶性疟原虫非编码RNA的研究进展

Research development on non-coding RNA of Plasmodium falciparum

疟疾依然是世界上严重危害人类健康的3大传染病之一。在5种导致人类疟疾的疟原虫中,恶性疟原虫(Plasmodium falciparum)毒力最强、致死率最高。研究表明,红内期恶性疟原虫能够逃避宿主免疫系统,与其抗原编码基因的互斥性表达密不可分,这依赖于其发育过程具有精密的基因表达调控机制。目前对其基因表达调控机制研究尚不够深入。已有研究发现,恶性疟原虫中具有丰富的非编码RNA(non-coding RNA,ncRNA),其中一部分ncRNA已被证实在恶性疟原虫生长发育和致病过程相关的基因表达调控中发挥着重要作用。本文就近年恶性疟原虫相关ncRNA的功能研究进展进行综述,以加深对疟原虫基因表达调控机制的理解,从而为疟原虫致病的分子机制研究提供理论基础。

Malaria remains among the top three infectious diseases in the world and poses a serious threat to human health. Among the five Plasmodium species that cause human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum has the highest virulence and is the most lethal one. It has been shown that the immune evasion of parasites is closely related to the mutually exclusive expression of antigen-coding genes in P. falciparum, which depends on the precise gene regulatory mechanism. There are a large number of non-coding RNAs（ncRNAs） in P. falciparum, and some of them have been found to play a vital role in gene expression during parasite development and in pathogenesis. In this review we summarize recent findings on functions of P. falciparum-related ncRNAs, in order to advance our understanding of the regulation of Plasmodium gene expression and provide a theoretical basis for studies on molecular mechanism of Plasmodium pathogenesis.