Intracellular delivery of TAT fusion protein into erythrocyteª²stage Plasmodium falciparum

    WANG Xianª²Feng, LIU Zhongª²Xiang, LI Shuª²Mei, MIAO Jun, LI Xun, DING Jin

    Department of Etiology, School of Basic Medicine,Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710033, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the transduction of TATª²p53 fusion protein into erythrocyteª²stage Plasmodium falciparum (P.f). METHODS: Purified TATª²p53 protein and p53 protein were respectively incubated with malarial parasite culture for 30 min. The blood smear was prepared and the TATª²p53 protein was detected by immunofluorescence assay after transduction. The effect of TATª²p53 on the growth of parasites was determined by counting the parasitemia changes between preª² and postª²incubation of the fusion protein with the parasite culture for 12 h. RESULTS: TATª²p53 fusion protein could be transduced into P.f parasites, locating at trophozoit and lateª²schizont stage, whereas p53 protein could not. No significant difference was found in the parasitemia of P.f culture treated with TATª²p53 fusion protein and that of control (P>0.05), suggesting that the protein transduction had no effect on the parasite growth. CONCLUSION: TAT fusion protein can be transduced into P.f parasite, which will provide a useful tool for the investigation of gene function related with malarial parasite. ......