Jose-Juan 
LOPEZ-RUBIO

Information

Scientific interests and projects

Our team uses cutting edge technologies to understand DNA biology in Plasmodium falciparum, a unicellular eukaryotic parasite that causes the most severe form of malaria in humans. Given the tight regulation of gene expression in malaria parasites, the apparent paucity of transcription-associated factors is surprising and points to existence of divergent regulatory pathways. Our projects investigate two emerging mechanisms for gene regulation, non coding RNA and G4-quadruplex DNA secondary structures. Such divergent regulatory mechanisms present ideal drug targets that may be explored for new antimalarial strategies.

Top 5 publications of the last 5 years

1. Dorin-Semblat D, Tetard M, Claes A, Semblat JP, Dechavanne S, Fourati Z, Hamelin R, Armand F, Matesic G, Nunes-Silva S, Srivastava A, Gangnard S, Lopez-Rubio JJ, Moniatte M, Doerig C, Scherf A, Gamain B. Phosphorylation of the VAR2CSA extracellular region is associated with enhanced adhesive properties to the placental receptor CSA. PLoS Biol. 2019 Jun 10;17(6):e3000308

2. Vergnes B, Gazanion E, Mariac C, Du Manoir M, Sollelis L, Lopez-Rubio JJ, Sterkers Y, Bañuls AL. A single amino acid substitution (H451Y) in Leishmania calcium-dependent kinase SCAMK confers high tolerance and resistance to antimony. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2019 Nov 1;74(11):3231-3239

3. Gazanion E, Lacroix L, Alberti P, Gurung P, Wein S, Cheng M, Mergny JL, Gomes AR, Lopez-Rubio JJ. Genome wide distribution of G-quadruplexes and their impact on gene expression in malaria parasites. Plos Genetics 2020 Jul 6;16(7):e1008917

4. Lozano-Amado D, Ávila-López PA, Hernández-Montes G, Briseño-Díaz P, Lopez-Rubio JJ, Carrero Sánchez JC, Hernández-Rivas R. A class I histone deacetylase control the expression of genes implicated in the encystation of Entamoeba invadens. International Journal for Parasitology 2020 Oct;50(12):1011-1022

5. Neveu G, Richard C, Behera P, Volpe F, Subramani PA, Vallin P, Andrieu M, Mukti-Minz A, Azar N, Martins RM, Lorthiois A, Lopez-Rubio JJ, Mazier D, Satpathi S, Wassmer SC, Verdier F, Lavazec C. Malaria sexual parasites develop in human erythroblasts and affect erythropoiesis. Blood 2020 Sep 17; 136(12):1381-1393.