Methods to Investigate the Regulatory Role of Small RNAs and Ribosomal Occupancy of Plasmodium falciparum

Summary

Human microRNAs translocate from host erythrocytes to Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Here, the techniques used to transfect synthetic microRNAs into host erythrocytes and isolate all RNAs from P. falciparum are described. In addition, this paper will detail a method of polysome isolation in P. falciparum to determine the ribosomal occupancy and translational potential of parasite transcripts.

Abstract

The genetic variation responsible for the sickle cell allele (HbS) enables erythrocytes to resist infection by the malaria parasite, P. falciparum. The molecular basis of this resistance, which is known to be multifactorial, remains incompletely understood. Recent studies found that the differential expression of erythrocyte microRNAs, once translocated into malaria parasites, affect both gene regulation and parasite growth. These miRNAs were later shown to inhibit mRNA translation by forming a chimeric RNA transcript via 5' RNA fusion with discreet subsets of parasite mRNAs. Here, the techniques that were used to study the functional role and putative mechanism underlying erythrocyte microRNAs on the gene regulation and translational potential of P. falciparum, including the transfection of modified synthetic microRNAs into host erythrocytes, will be detailed.  Finally, a polysome gradient method is used to determine the extent of translation of these transcripts. Together, these techniques allowed us to demonstrate that the dysregulated levels of erythrocyte microRNAs contribute to cell-intrinsic malaria resistance of sickle erythrocytes.

Introduction

Malaria, caused by apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, is the most common human parasitic disease, globally infecting approximately 200 million people each year and causing around 600,000 deaths¹. Of the five Plasmodium species that infect humans, the most relevant to human disease are P. falciparum and P. vivax, due to their widespread distributions and potential for severe malaria complications. The life cycle of the malaria parasite requires infection of both mosquitoes and humans. When an infected mosquito bites a human, the parasites travel through the bloodstream to the liver, where an initial round of r....

Protocol

1: Isolation of Small-sized RNAs from P. falciparum During the IDC

1. Obtain malaria parasites in asexual culture²⁹.
   NOTE: The required culture size will vary based upon the desired application; however, a 10 ml culture at 3-5% parasitemia and 5% hematocrit provides ample RNA for real-time PCR (RT-PCR). The technique was initially optimized for asynchronous cultures, but when specific time points during the infection cycle are desired, ring-stage parasites can be synchronized by sorbitol synchronization no later than 10-12 hr post-invasion. Synchronization should be repeated after one cycle (approximately 48 hr)²⁹ .
....

Results

Global profiling of human microRNA in P. falciparum

The techniques presented here were used to extract microRNAs from parasites in a variety of conditions. One thing to note is that RNA extractions for uninfected RBCs were performed as indicated in³², which often served as a reference point for the microRNA data presented in both this article and the original study²⁹. Those previous studies also demonstrated that HbSS erythrocytes possessed far greater levels of .......

Discussion

HbS is one of the most common hemoglobin variants in malaria endemic areas, largely because it provides protection against severe malaria caused by P. falciparum. The techniques needed to characterize the role of human microRNA in the gene regulation of P. falciparum are detailed throughout this manuscript. By extracting total RNA in such a way as to include all small RNAs, and by performing a relatively straightforward parasite lysis procedure, these fusion RNAs were able to be identified through a var.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
REAGENTS-All reagents must be RNAse-free.
Diethyl pyrocarbonate	Sigma	D5758	DEPC
DEPC-treated water (see REAGENT SETUP)
Yoyo-1 DNA fluorescent dye	Thermo Fisher
Gene Pulser II electroporator	Bio-Rad
0.2 cm Electroporation cuvettes
4 M potassium acetate	Mallinckrodt	6700
2 M potassium HEPES	Sigma	H0527	pH 7.2
1 M magnesium acetate	Sigma	M-2545
1 M dithiothreitol	Research Products International	D11000	DTT
100 mM phenylmethylsulfonate fluoride	Sigma	P7626	PMSF, dissolved in isopropanol
10% (v/v) Igepal CA-630	Sigma-Aldrich	I3021
10% (w/v) sodium deoxycholate	Sigma	D-6750	DOC
Cycloheximide	Sigma	C-7698	CHX
Sucrose	Mallinckrodt	8360-04
RNAseOUT (Invitrogen, cat. no. 100000840)	Invitrogen	100000840
RPMI-1640 w/ L-glutamine	Cellgro	10-040-CV
10% AlbuMAX I	Invitrogen	11020-039	w/v in sterile water
Gentamicin	Gibco	15750-060
HT supplement (100x) (Invitrogen, cat. no. 11067030)
45% (w/v) sucrose (Sigma, cat no. G8769)
1 M HEPES buffer (Gibco, cat. no. 15630-080)
1x phosphate buffered saline (PBS; Cellgro, cat. no. 2109310CV)
Corning 500 ml vacuum filter flask (VWR, cat. no. 430769)
Glass slides (VWR, cat. no. 48311-702)
Giemsa stain (50X) (VWR, cat no. m708-01)
mirVana miRNA isolation kit (Ambion, ThermoFisher Scientific).
5' Biotin conjugated mature miRNA (sequence varies by miRNA of interest) (Dharmacon)
Biotin powder (Sigma-Aldrich)
1 M Potassium Chloride
Streptavidin Sepharose High Performance Beads (GE Healthcare)
Ribosome resuspension buffer (see REAGENT SETUP)
Lysis buffer (see REAGENT SETUP)
15% (w/v) sucrose gradient solution (see REAGENT SETUP)
50% (w/v) sucrose gradient solution (see REAGENT SETUP)
0.5 M sucrose cushion (see REAGENT SETUP)
60% (w/v) sucrose chase solution (see REAGENT SETUP)
Plasmodium cell culture media (see REAGENT SETUP)
RNA capture Wash Buffer (see REAGENT SETUP)
RNA Elution Buffer (see REAGENT SETUP)
REAGENT SETUP
Solutions
Plasmodium cell culture media
500 ml RPMI-1640 w/ L-glutamine
0.5 ml gentamicin
5 ml HT supplement
2.5 ml 45% glucose
25 ml 10% AlbuMAX I
12.5 ml 1 M HEPES
Sterile filter with 0.2 mm vacuum filter flask.
Plasmodium cell culture media containing 10x CHX
Same recipe as Plasmodium cell culture media above, with the addition of:
2 mM cycloheximide
Media is prepared as normal, then add CHX to a final concentration of 2 mM and filter.
1x PBS containing cycloheximide
Cycloheximide is added fresh to 1x PBS to a final concentration of 200 mM, and kept at 4 OC until use.
Ribosome resuspension buffer
400 mM potassium acetate
25 mM potassium HEPES, pH 7.2
15 mM magnesium acetate
200 mM cycloheximide (add fresh)
1 mM DTT (add fresh)
1 mM PMSF (add fresh)
40 U/ml RNaseOUT (add fresh)
Lysis buffer
Same recipe as ribosome resuspension buffer above, with the addition of:
1% (v/v) Igepal CA-630
0.5% (w/v) DOC
Sucrose solutions
Same recipe as ribosome resuspension buffer above, with the addition of varying amounts of sucrose:
15% (w/v) sucrose to make 15% sucrose gradient solution
50% (w/v) sucrose to make 50% sucrose gradient solution
0.5 M sucrose to make 0.5 M sucrose cushion
As above, cycloheximide, DTT, PMSF, and RNaseOUT must be added fresh.
The 60% sucrose chase solution requires only sucrose and water, no other components
60% (w/v) sucrose in DEPC-treated water to make 60% sucrose chase solution
RNA Capture Wash Buffer
20 mM  KCl
5 unit/ml Rnase Out (Invitrogen)
RNA Capture Elution Buffer
Same recipe as RNA Capture Wash Buffer, with the addition of:
2 mM Biotin
EQUIPMENT
SW55 Ti ultracentrifuge rotor (Beckman, cat. no. 342194)
SW41 Ti ultracentrifuge rotor (Beckman, cat. no. 331362)
Ultra-ClearTM ½ x 2 in (13 x 51 mm) ultracentrifuge tubes for the SW55 (Beckman, cat. no. 344057)
Polyallomer 9/16 x 3 ½ in (14 x 89 mm) ultracentrifuge tubes for the SW41 (Beckman, cat. no. 331372)
L8-80M ultracentrifuge (Beckman)
Steel blunt syringe needle, 4 inch, 16 G (Aldrich, cat. no. Z261378)
1 ml syringe with 27 G½ needle (Becton Dickinson, cat no. 309623)
5 ml syringe (Becton Dickinson, cat. no. 309646)
Parafilm
Tube rotator, end-over-end
Microcentrifuge, refrigerated
Density gradient fractionation system (Teledyne Isco, cat. no. 69-3873-179)
TracerDAQ (Measurement Computing)
Eppendorf 5810R centrifuge
Eppendorf A-4-81 rotor (Eppendorf, cat. no. 022638807)