Characterizing the Inducible 1-Cysteine Peroxiredoxin Promoter in Plasmodium berghei

Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. The malaria parasite Plasmodium requires two hosts: the human and Anopheles mosquito. My research project seeks to understand the antioxidant defense mechanisms Plasmodium employs to withstand the hostile extracellular environment of the Anopheles mosquito vector through upregulation of 1-Cysteine Peroxiredoxin (1-CPrx). When activated, 1-CPrx counteracts reactive oxygen species released by the mosquito. We hypothesize 1-CPrx promoter activation is driven by an antioxidant response element. My objective is to locate the promoter of 1-CPrx through a “promoter bashing approach” using luciferase reporter constructs transfected into Plasmodium and characterize the ARE.