Malaria parasites, Plasmodium can infect a wide range of hosts including humans and rodents. There are two copies of mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in Plasmodium, namely MAPK1 and MAPK2. The MAPKs have been studied extensively in the human Plasmodium, P. falciparum. However, the MAPKs from other Plasmodium species have not been characterized and it is therefore the premise of presented study to characterize the MAPKs from other Plasmodium species-P. vivax, P knowlesi, P berghei, P chabaudi and P.yoelli using a series of publicly available bioinformatic tools. In silico data indicates that all Plasmodium MAPKs are nuclear-localized and contain both a nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a Leucine-rich nuclear export signal (NES). The activation motifs of TDY and TSH were found to be fully conserved in Plasmodium MAPK1 and MAPK2, respectively. The detailed manual inspection of a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) construct revealed a total of 17 amino acid stack patterns comprising of different amino acids present in MAPK1 and MAPK2 respectively, with respect to rodent and human Plasmodia. It is proposed that these amino acid stack patterns may be useful in explaining the disparity between rodent and human Plasmodium MAPKs.
Kajian ini melibatkan pemantauan perkembangan parasitemia dan taburan morfologi Plasmodium berghei sewaktu infeksi parasit dalam mencit, serta penentuan kesan infeksi P. berghei ke atas pengisyaratan MAP kinase eritrosit perumah. Analisis mikroskop ke atas slaid calitan darah terwarna-Giemsa yang disediakan daripada mencit terinfeksi-P. berghei (strain PZZ1/00) menunjukkan darjah parasitemia mencapai sehingga 70% dalam masa dua minggu selepas penyuntikan parasit. Morfologi cecincin dan trofozoit parasit dicerap dengan jelas sepanjang tempoh infeksi manakala morfologi skizon parasit hanya dicerap dengan ketara selepas hari ketiga selepas penyuntikan parasit. Pemblotan Western [antibodi primer: anti-MAP kinase (ERK-1/2 tak terfosfat) monoklon; antibodi sekunder: anti-IgG, poliklon terkonjugat-HRP] ke atas protein sitosol eritrosit terinfeksi-P. berghei (70% parasitemia) susulan pemisahan SDS-PAGE menunjukkan bahawa keamatan protein imunoreaktif-MAP kinase eritrosit berberat molekul 42 dan 44 kDa didapati meningkat secara signifikan (p<0.05) pada 70% iaitu peningkatan sebanyak 21.5% dan 22.3% masing-masing berbanding sampel kawalan tanpa infeksi. Samada kesan infeksi P. berghei (70% parasitemia) ke atas pengisyaratan MAP kinase perumah ini berkaitan dengan pengaktifan enzim ini perlu dikaji dengan lebih lanjut.
Biofilm is a microbial community that attaches to a surface and is enclosed in extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) matrix. Formation of biofilm often develops resistance towards a wide spectrum of antimicrobial agents. Since the biofilm-mediated diseases are commonly difficult to treat, there is need to find new anti-biofilm agent. The studies on anti-biofilm activities of plant species have received a great deal of attention over the last few decades. In Malaysia, plant species have been used as alternatives to the conventional antimicrobial therapy. Several Malaysian plant species are known to control biofilm infection by inhibition of quorum sensing pathway, disruption of EPS matrix, alteration of cell permeability and reduction in cell surface hydrophobicity. This review demonstrates that Malaysian plant species may become excellent therapeutic agents in combating the biofilm infection.