Actin-related protein Alp1 governs malaria parasite motility and transmission

Motility of the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium is essential for transmission to and from mosquitoes, with the turnover of actin filaments being a central feature of productive cell movement. Actin-related proteins (Arps) are known to play critical roles in motility, trafficking and chromatin remodelling. Here, we show that the actin-like protein 1 (Alp1), an apicomplexan Arp, is essential for Plasmodium ookinete motility and establishing of infection in mosquitoes. We identified an insertion region in subdomain 4 that contributes to Alp1 function in ookinetes and show novel actin filament structures in ookinetes. A combination of gene deletion and actin filament recognizing chromobody expression revealed a role of Alp1 in promoting actin filament turnover in ookinetes. We have thus identified a novel Arp that has evolved a specialist function to regulate actin dynamics, govern malaria parasite motility and facilitate malaria transmission.