Apicomplexan parasites are causative agents of major human diseases. Calcium Dependent Protein Kinases (CDPKs) are crucial components for the intracellular development of apicomplexan parasites and are thus considered attractive drug targets. CDPK7 is an atypical member of this family, which initial characterization suggested to be critical for intracellular development of both Apicomplexa Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii. However, the mechanisms via which it regulates parasite replication have remained unknown. We performed quantitative phosphoproteomics of T. gondii lacking TgCDPK7 to identify its parasitic targets. Our analysis lead to the identification of several putative TgCDPK7 substrates implicated in critical processes like phospholipid (PL) synthesis and vesicular trafficking. Strikingly, phosphorylation of TgRab11a via TgCDPK7 was critical for parasite intracellular development and protein trafficking. Lipidomic analysis combined with biochemical and cellular studies confirmed that TgCDPK7 regulates phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) levels in T. gondii. These studies provide novel insights into the regulation of these processes that are critical for parasite development by TgCDPK7.
The Earth–ionosphere cavity resonator is occupied primarily by the electromagnetic radiation of lightning below 100 Hz. The phenomenon is known as Schumann resonances (SR). SR intensity is an excellent indicator of lightning activity and its distribution on global scales. However, long-term measurements from high latitude SR stations revealed a pronounced in-phase solar cycle modulation of SR intensity seemingly contradicting optical observations of lightning from satellite, which do not show any significant solar cycle variation in the intensity and spatial distribution of lightning activity on the global scale. The solar cycle-modulated local deformation of the Earth–ionosphere cavity by the ionization of energetic electron precipitation (EEP) has been suggested as a possible phenomenon that may account for the observed long-term modulation of SR intensity. Precipitating electrons in the energy range of 1–300 keV can affect the Earth–ionosphere cavity resonator in the altitude range of about 70–110 km and modify the SR intensities. However, until now there was no direct evidence documented in the literature supporting this suggestion. In this paper we present long-term SR intensity records from eight stations, each equipped with a pair of induction coil magnetometers: five high latitude (|lat| > 60°), two mid-high latitude (50° < |lat| < 60°) and one low latitude (|lat| < 30°). These long-term, ground-based SR intensity records are compared on the annual and interannual timescales with the fluxes of precipitating 30–300 keV medium energy electrons provided by the POES NOAA-15 satellite and on the daily timescale with electron precipitation events identified using a SuperDARN radar in Antarctica. The long-term variation of the Earth–ionosphere waveguide’s effective height, as inferred from its cutoff frequency, is independently analyzed based on spectra recorded by the DEMETER satellite. It is shown that to account for all our observations one needs to consider both the effect of solar X-rays and EEP which modify the quality factor of the cavity and deform it dominantly over low- and high latitudes, respectively. Our results suggest that SR measurements should be considered as an alternative tool for collecting information about and thus monitoring changes in the ionization state of the lower ionosphere associated with EEP.
Low-latitude Pi2 pulsations in the topside ionosphere are investigated using vector magnetic field measurements from LEO satellite, CHAMP, and underneath ground station. Substorm-associated Pi2s are initially identified using high-resolution data from Indian station Shillong, during 2007Shillong, during -2009, and are further classified into three subgroups of Pi2 band (6-25 mHz), based on its frequency. During nighttime, coherent in-phase oscillations are observed in the compressional component at satellite and horizontal component at underneath ground station for all the Pi2 events, irrespective of the Pi2 frequency. We observe that the identification of daytime Pi2s at CHAMP (compressional component) depends on the frequency of Pi2 oscillation; i.e., 40%, 45%, and 100% of Pi2 events observed in dayside ground station with frequency between 6-10 mHz, 10-15 mHz, and 15-25 mHz were identified at satellite, respectively. At CHAMP during daytime, the presence of a dominant power in the lower frequencies of Pi2 band, which is unique to satellite, is consistently observed and can modify the Pi2 oscillations. Pi2s having frequency >15 mHz are less affected by these background frequencies, and a clear signature of daytime Pi2s at CHAMP is possible to observe, provided that contribution from non-Pi2 frequencies at satellite from the lower end of Pi2 band is eliminated. Daytime Pi2s identified in the topside ionosphere showed coherent but mostly opposite phase oscillations with underneath ground station, and satellite-to-ground amplitude ratio is, in general, found to be less than 1. Present results indicate that a combination of fast cavity-mode oscillations and an instantaneous transmission of Pi2 electric field from high-to low-latitude ionosphere is responsible for the observation of daytime Pi2s.
[1] The standard auroral electrojet (AE) indices are based on magnetic disturbance data from 10 to 12 northern auroral observatories. Recently, Newell and Gjerloev (2011a) computed equivalent SuperMAG electrojet (SME) indices using data from around 100 mid latitude to high latitude observatories in the Northern Hemisphere. The SME indices certainly have advantage over the AE indices in terms of number as well as temporal resolution of substorm onsets due to better latitudinal and longitudinal coverage. The UT and seasonal variations of geomagnetic activity have been extensively examined in the past. However, particularly for the AE indices, these variations have remained elusive due to sparse distribution of the AE observatories. In this study, we examine what effect the inclusion of large number of stations would make on the UT and seasonal variations of the auroral electrojets activities. For this purpose, data for years 1997-2009 have been considered when consistently many stations (> 70) were available for the computation of the SME indices. We demonstrate that the SME indices exhibit grossly similar UT and seasonal variations as observed in the AE indices. However, there are subtle differences which arise due to difference in number of stations. Our study suggests that most of the UT and seasonal variations of the AE indices, reported earlier, were mainly not due the sparse distribution of stations, but rather to the actual physical processes that control them.
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