Plasmodium Kinesin-8X associates with mitotic spindles and is essential for oocyst development during parasite proliferation and transmission

Kinesin-8 proteins are microtubule motors that are often involved in the regulation of mitotic spindle length and chromosome alignment. They move towards the ends of spindle microtubules and regulate the dynamics of these ends due, at least in some species, to their microtubule depolymerization activity. Plasmodium spp. exhibit an atypical endomitotic cell division in which chromosome condensation and spindle dynamics are not well understood in the different proliferative stages. Genome-wide homology analysis of Plasmodium spp. revealed the presence of two Kinesin-8 motor proteins (Kinesin-8X and Kinesin-8B). Here we have studied the biochemical properties of Kinesin-8X and its role in parasite proliferation. In vitro, Kinesin-8X showed motile and depolymerization activities like other Kinesin-8 motors. To understand its role in cell division, we have used protein tagging and live cell imaging to define the location of Plasmodium Kinesin-8X during all proliferative stages of the parasite life cycle. Furthermore, we have used gene targeting to analyse the function of Kinesin-8X. The results reveal a spatiotemporal involvement of Kinesin-8X in spindle dynamics and its association with both mitotic and meiotic spindles and the putative microtubule organising centre (MTOC). Deletion of the Kinesin-8X gene showed that this protein is required for endomitotic division during oocyst development and is, therefore, necessary for parasite replication within the mosquito gut, and for transmission to the vertebrate host. Consistently, transcriptome analysis of Δkinesin-8X parasites reveals modulated expression of genes involved mainly in microtubule-based processes, chromosome organisation and the regulation of gene expression confirming its role in cell division.