Pawan Malhotra
ICGEB, New Delhi
Pawan Malhotra is a molecular biologist with extensive research experience in malaria biology, protein chemistry, and vaccine development. He obtained his M.Sc. in Zoology (Biochemistry) in 1981 and his Ph.D. in Protein Chemistry and Vaccine/ Reproductive Biology in 1988, both from the University of Delhi. At ICGEB, Dr Malhotra leads the Malaria Group, where his research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying Plasmodium biology, host–parasite interactions, and the identification of novel vaccine and therapeutic targets. As an Arturo Falaschi Emeritus Scientist, he continues to contribute to the Centre’s scientific and mentoring programmes, fostering translational malaria research aimed at global health impact.
Session 1F: Lectures by Fellows/Associates
Chairperson: Anirban Basu, NBRC, Manesar
Plasmodium falciparum secretome/surfactome at asexual blood stages – A hidden treasure for new antimalarial development
Cells talk to each other and to their respective host cells in case of pathogens by cell surface/secretory molecules. Secretory proteins from all cells make up a complex subset of molecules referred as 'secretome' and cell surface molecules are referred as surfactome. These secretory/surface proteins play important roles in cell to cell communication, host cell invasion and in case of vertebrates, these proteins help in keeping a delicate balance between protective immunity of the host and pathogenic immune evasion responses thereby mainitaining homeostasis and eliminating the the infectious probes. Here, we describe the proteomic approaches to illustrate Plasmodium falciparum 'secretome' as well as surfactome. In total 33 proteins were identified from P. falciparum secretome and ~ 300 proteins were identified from P. falciparum surfactome. Sequence analysis of many of these putative Plasmodium secretory antigens revealed that they possessed important extracellular binding/signalling modules required for parasite establishment, pathogenesis and immunomodulation. Important among these proteins are the proteins that share homology with the Caenorhabiditis elegans Sel 1 protein, an extracellular protein shown to be shown to be a negative regulator of Notch Pathway genes; lin-12 and glp-1 referred here as PfSel1 & PfSel 2 proteins, a Complement control protein (CCP1) that modulates complement activation, a putative serine protease (DegP), a protein kinase, a tyrosine phosphatase and GBP-130 that are involved in pathogenesis as well virulence. Many of these aspects will be discussed in detail in my talk.