Browsing by Author "Liu, Jiapeng"

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    Functional Characterization of Serine Hydrolases Mediating Lipid Metabolism and Protein Depalmitoylation in Asexual Stage Plasmodium Falciparum
    Liu, Jiapeng (Virginia Tech, 2023-06-05)
    Malaria is an infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites and transferred by Anopheles mosquitos. Due to Artemisinin resistance, new druggable targets identification and new drug development are urgently needed. Serine hydrolases (SHs) are one of the largest classes of enzymes having important roles in life processes. The deadliest malaria parasite, P. falciparum, encodes more than 50 SHs including proteases, lipases, esterase and others, while only several of them have been characterized. The study of uncharacterized SHs will shed light on future drug development to treat malaria. In this study, we applied chemical biology and genetic approaches to identify SHs important for the pathogenic asexual stage growth of P. falciparum parasites. We mainly focused on a depalmitoylase essential for merozoite invasion and lysophospholipases (LPLs) essential for acquiring fatty acids (FAs) from the host. Identifying essential metabolic enzymes will benefit the treatment to malaria. We focused on metabolic SHs and identified two SHs were refractory to knock out. We studied a likely essential SH named PfABHD17A, which is a human depalmitoylase homolog. PfABHD17A is localized on the rhoptry, an organelle essential for invasion. We expressed the recombinant PfABHD17A, conducted inhibitor screen and discovered that human depalmitoylase inhibitor ML211 inhibits PfABHD17A in vitro. ML211 inhibits merozoite invasion but not egress, which together with the localization of PfABHD17A on the rhoptries, suggested that PfABHD17A is essential in merozoite invasion. We also purified PfABHD17A and verified that PfABHD17A may exhibit depalmitoylase activity in vitro. LPLs are important for asexual stage parasites acquiring FAs from the host. The P. falciparum genome includes 17 putative LPLs while LPLs responsible for hydrolyzing FA from lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) in the asexual stage are currently unknown. Using a chemical biology approach, we identified serine hydrolase inhibitor AKU-010 inhibits LPC hydrolysis effectively. Using activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) and genetic approaches, we identified that AKU-010 inhibits a series of SHs including Exported Lipases (XLs), Exported Lipases Homolog (XLH) and Plasmodium falciparum prodrug activation and resistance esterase (PfPARE). We generated a series of knockout parasite lines on the AKU-010 targets and identified that red blood cell (RBC)-localized XL2 and cytosolic XLH4 contribute to most LPC hydrolysis activity in the asexual stage. XLs and XLHs are important for parasites using LPC for growth and contribute to detoxification from accumulated LPC. XL2 and XL4 together are essential for parasite growth under high LPC concentration medium, such as human serum. XL/XLH-deficient parasites could still acquire FA from LPC, which is mainly contributed by parasite membrane- localized PfPARE. PfPARE has little impact on parasite growth and LPC metabolism with the existence of XLs and XLHs but is important after the loss of XLs and XLHs. Parasites deficient in PfPARE, XLs and XLHs have little ability to release FA from LPC and cannot use LPC as FAs source for growth. In summary, we identified metabolic SHs mediating protein depalmitoylation and lipid metabolism and in asexual stage Plasmodium falciparum, which may benefit future drug development to treat malaria.
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    Leveraging a Fluorescent Fatty Acid Probe to Discover Cell-Permeable Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum Glycerolipid Biosynthesis
    Dapper, Christie; Liu, Jiapeng; Klemba, Michael (American Society for Microbiology, 2022-10)
    The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum relies on fatty acid scavenging to supply this essential precursor of lipid synthesis during its asexual replication cycle in human erythrocytes. This dependence on host fatty acids represents a potential vulnerability that can be exploited to develop new anti-malarial therapies. A sensitive and quantitative fluorescence-based approach is presented for characterizing fatty acid acquisition and lipid biosynthesis by asexually replicating, intraerythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum. We show that a BODIPY-containing, green-fluorescent fatty acid analog is efficiently and rapidly incorporated into parasite neutral lipids and phospholipids. Prelabeling with a red-fluorescent ceramide analog permits normalization and enables reliable quantitation of glycerolipid labeling. Inhibition of lipid labeling by competition with natural fatty acids and by acyl-coenzyme A synthetase and diacylglycerol acyltransferase inhibitors demonstrates that the fluorescent fatty acid probe is acquired, activated, and transferred to lipids through physiologically-relevant pathways. To assess its utility in discovering small molecules that block parasite lipid biosynthesis, the lipid labeling assay was used to screen a panel of mammalian lipase inhibitors and a selection of compounds from the "Malaria Box" anti-malarial collection. Several compounds were identified that inhibited the incorporation of the fluorescent fatty acid probe into lipids in cultured parasites at low micromolar concentrations. Two contrasting profiles of suppression of neutral lipid and phospholipid synthesis were observed, which implies the inhibition of distinct pathways. IMPORTANCE The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum relies on fatty acid scavenging to supply this essential precursor of lipid synthesis during its asexual replication cycle in human erythrocytes. This dependence on host fatty acids represents a potential vulnerability that can be exploited to develop new anti-malarial therapies. The quantitative experimental approach described here provides a platform for simultaneously interrogating multiple facets of lipid metabolism- fatty acid uptake, fatty acyl-CoA synthesis, and neutral lipid and phospholipid biosynthesis- and of identifying cell-permeable inhibitors that are active in situ.