TITLE:
Certain Amplified Genomic-DNA Fragments (AGFs) May Be Involved in Cell Cycle Progression and Chloroquine Is Found to Induce the Production of Cell-Cycle-Associated AGFs (CAGFs) in Plasmodium falciparum
AUTHORS:
Gao-De Li
KEYWORDS:
Cell Cycle, Cell Cycle Regulation, DNA Function, Amplified Genomic-DNA Fragments (AGFs), Cell-Cycle-Associated AGFs (CAGFs), Plasmodium falciparum, Chloroquine, Antimalarial, Anticancer, Immunomodulatory
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.3 No.3,
March
14,
2016
ABSTRACT: It is well
known that cyclins are a family of proteins that control cell-cycle progression
by activating cyclin-dependent kinase. Based on our experimental results, we
propose here a novel hypothesis that certain amplified genomic-DNA fragments
(AGFs) may also be required for the cell cycle progression of eukaryotic cells
and thus can be named as
cell-cycle-associated AGFs (CAGFs). Like fluctuation in cyclin levels during
cell cycle progression, these CAGFs are amplified and degraded at different
points of the cell cycle. The functions of CAGFs are unknown, but we speculate
that CAGFs may be involved
in regulation of gene expression, genome protection, and formation of certain
macromolecular complexes required for the dynamic genome architecture during
cell cycle progression. Our experimental results also show that chloroquine
induces the production of CAGFs in Plasmodium falciparum, suggesting that
targeting cell cycle progression can be the primary
mechanism of chloroquine’s
antimalarial, anticancer, and immunomodulatory actions.