Aidan J O'Donnell1, Megan A Greischar2, Sarah E Reece1. 1. Institute of Evolutionary Biology, and Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. 2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Abstract
AIMS: Malaria parasites exhibit daily rhythms in the intra-erythrocytic development cycle (IDC) that underpins asexual replication in the blood. The IDC schedule is aligned with the timing of host feeding-fasting rhythms. When the IDC schedule is perturbed to become mismatched to host rhythms, it readily reschedules but it is not known how. METHODS: We intensively follow four groups of infections that have different temporal alignments between host rhythms and the IDC schedule for 10 days, before and after the peak in asexual densities. We compare how the duration, synchrony and timing of the IDC differs between parasites in control infections and those forced to reschedule by 12 hours and ask whether the density of parasites affects the rescheduling process. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our experiments reveal parasites shorten the IDC duration by 2-3 hours to become realigned to host feeding-fasting rhythms with 5-6 days, in a density-independent manner. Furthermore, parasites are able to reschedule without significant fitness costs for them or their hosts. Understanding the extent of, and limits on, plasticity in the IDC schedule may reveal targets for novel interventions, such as drugs to disrupt IDC regulation and preventing IDC dormancy conferring tolerance to existing drugs.
AIMS: Malaria parasites exhibit daily rhythms in the intra-erythrocytic development cycle (IDC) that underpins asexual replication in the blood. The IDC schedule is aligned with the timing of host feeding-fasting rhythms. When the IDC schedule is perturbed to become mismatched to host rhythms, it readily reschedules but it is not known how. METHODS: We intensively follow four groups of infections that have different temporal alignments between host rhythms and the IDC schedule for 10 days, before and after the peak in asexual densities. We compare how the duration, synchrony and timing of the IDC differs between parasites in control infections and those forced to reschedule by 12 hours and ask whether the density of parasites affects the rescheduling process. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our experiments reveal parasites shorten the IDC duration by 2-3 hours to become realigned to host feeding-fasting rhythms with 5-6 days, in a density-independent manner. Furthermore, parasites are able to reschedule without significant fitness costs for them or their hosts. Understanding the extent of, and limits on, plasticity in the IDC schedule may reveal targets for novel interventions, such as drugs to disrupt IDC regulation and preventing IDC dormancy conferring tolerance to existing drugs.
Authors: Xiaodong Zhuang; Donall Forde; Senko Tsukuda; Valentina D'Arienzo; Laurent Mailly; James M Harris; Peter A C Wing; Helene Borrmann; Mirjam Schilling; Andrea Magri; Claudia Orbegozo Rubio; Robert J Maidstone; Mudassar Iqbal; Miguel Garzon; Rosalba Minisini; Mario Pirisi; Sam Butterworth; Peter Balfe; David W Ray; Koichi Watashi; Thomas F Baumert; Jane A McKeating Journal: Nat Commun Date: 2021-03-12 Impact factor: 14.919
Authors: Kimberley F Prior; Aidan J O'Donnell; Samuel S C Rund; Nicholas J Savill; Daan R van der Veen; Sarah E Reece Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2019-07-29 Impact factor: 4.379
Authors: Kimberley F Prior; Daan R van der Veen; Aidan J O'Donnell; Katherine Cumnock; David Schneider; Arnab Pain; Amit Subudhi; Abhinay Ramaprasad; Samuel S C Rund; Nicholas J Savill; Sarah E Reece Journal: PLoS Pathog Date: 2018-02-26 Impact factor: 6.823
Authors: Petra Schneider; Samuel S C Rund; Natasha L Smith; Kimberley F Prior; Aidan J O'Donnell; Sarah E Reece Journal: Proc Biol Sci Date: 2018-10-03 Impact factor: 5.349