Swiss TPH

We recently identified and characterised P. falciaprum heterochromatin protein 1 (PfHP1) and the ApiAP2 factor SPE2-interacting protein (PfSIP2) as two prominent members of subtelomeric heterochromatin (Flueck and Bartfai et al., PLoS Pathogens, 2009; Flueck et al., PLoS Pathogens, 2010). Both proteins appear to be essential for parasite survival during the intra-erythrocytic cell cycle. To study the role of these heterochromatic factors in more detail we use a variety of experimental approaches, including the generation of conditional knockout cell lines, expression of dominant negative mutants, identification of interaction partners by co-immunoprecipitation/LC-MS/MS and yeast two-hybrid screens, and analysis of protein structure. Furthermore, we generated cell lines expressing these proteins as either GFP- or CherryFP-tagged versions. These tools will allow us to study chromosome end dynamics by live cell microscopy. We are also interested in applying similar approaches to study other nuclear landmark structures such as centromeres, telomeres, the nucleolus and nuclear pores.