Mutant/mutation
The mutant  expresses a C-terminal HA-tegged version of  ZIPCO (zinc transporter, putative; ZIP domain-containing protein) and expresses GFP under the control of the constitutive eef1a promoter.

Protein (function)
PBANKA_050650 is predicted to code for a protein with seven trans-membrane (TM) domains, including a putative N-terminal signal peptide, and has been annotated as a putative zinc transporter due to the presence of a conserved ZIP domain (Pfam02535). The ZIP family of proteins have a conserved signature of 15 amino acids, located either completely or partially within the fourth TM region, and 13 of them are present in PBANKA_050650. Sequence comparison using the forty sequences that constitute the seed of the Pfam02535 profile found that the well-conserved amino acids of this profile are present in PBANKA_050650. The genomes of P. falciparum, P. chabaudi, P. knowlesi, P. vivax, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis thaliana were screened with the Pfam02535 profile, and a phylogenetic tree was generated that indicated the presence of two paralogs of the ZIP family in the screened Plasmodium species. In P. berghei, the paralog of PBANKA_050650 is PBANKA_010770, annotated as a putative permease. PBANKA_050650 thus encodes a protein of the ZIP family, which was named ZIP domain-containing protein, ZIPCO.

Phenotype
Phenotype analyses of a mutant lacking ZIPCO (RMgm-1137) indicate that parasites undergo a delayed and inefficient schizogonic process in the hepatocyte, resulting in reduced formation of merozoites. Evidence is presented that iron or zinc supplementation to the medium rescues the growth defect of liver stages suggesting that ZIPCO is required for parasite utilization of iron and possibly zinc, consistent with its predicted function as a metal transporter.

Phenotype analysys of the mutant expressing HA-tagged ZIPCO showed peak expression of ZIPCO in late liver stages and evidence is presented for localisation of ZIPCO in the parasite plasma membrane.

Additional information
Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of various P. berghei developmental stages indicated that PBANKA_050650 transcripts were sevenfold higher in sporozoites than mixed RBC or exo-erythrocytic forms (EEFs) developing inside HepG2 hepatoma cells.

Other mutants
RMgm-1137: A  mutant lacking expression of ZIPCO.