Zilberstein - פקולטה לביולוגיה Biology Faculty

Education/ Resume:

1975 B.Sc. in Biology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

1977 M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences with distinction, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

1983 Ph.D. in Microbiology and Biochemistry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

2008 Professor of Microbiology and Parasitology

Research interest

Assessment of the molecular mechanism of Leishmaniadevelopment inside its host
The arginine sensing pathway in Leishmania and assessment of its role in virulence and host-pathogen interaction
The role of protein kinase A in Leishmania development inside host and vector

Key Publications

Antimony mode of action

Shaked-Mishan, P., Ulrich, N., Ephros. M. and Zilberstein, D. Novel intracellular Sb^V reducing activity correlates with antimony susceptibility in Leishmania donovani. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 3971-3976, (2001).

Amino acid transport

Shaked-Mishan, P., Suter-Grotemeyer, M., Yoel-Almagor, T., Holland, N., Zilberstein, D. and Rentsch, D. Novel high affinity arginine transporter from the human parasitic protozoan Leishmania donovani. Molecular Microbiology 60, 30-38, (2006).

Inbar, E., Schlisselberg, D., Suter Grotemeyer, M., Rentsch, D. and Zilberstein, D. A versatile proline-alanine transporter in the unicellular pathogen Leishmania donovani regulates amino acid homeostasis and osmotic stress responses. Biochem. J. 449, 555-566, (2013).

Schlisselberg, D., Mazarib, E., Inbar, E., Rentsch, D., Myler, P. J., Zilberstein, D. Size does matter: 18 amino acids at the N-terminal tip of a neutral amino acid transporter (LdAAP24) in Leishmania determine substrate specificity. Scientific Reports, 5, 16289-16298 (2015).

Leishmania development

Barak, E., Amin-Spector, S., Gerliak, E., Goyard, S., Holland, N. and Zilberstein, D. Differentiation of Leishmania donovani in host-free system: analysis of signal perception and response. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 141, 99-108, (2005).

Rosenzweig, D., Smith, D., Opperdoes, F.R., Stern, S., Olafson, R.W. and Zilberstein, D. Retooling Leishmania metabolism: from sandfly gut to human macrophage. The FASEB Journal 22, 590-602, (2008).

Lahav, T., Sivam, D, Volpin, H., Holland, N., Anderson-Green, A., Zilberstein, D. and Myler, P.J.^§ Multiple levels of gene regulation mediate differentiation of the intracellular pathogen Leishmania donovani. FASEB J. 25, 515-525, (2011).

Tsigankov, P., Gherardini, F.P., Helmer-Citterich, M., Späth, G.F., Myler, P.J., Zilberstein, D. Regulation dynamics of Leishmania differentiation: deconvoluting signals and identifying phosphorylation trends. Mol. & Cell. Prot., 13, 1769-1786 (2014).

Bachmaier, S., Witztum, R., Tsigankov, P., Koren, R., Boshart, M., Zilberstein, D. Protein kinase A signaling during bidirectional axenic differentiation of Leishmania, Int J Parasitol, 46, 75-82 (2016).

The arginine sensing pathway in Leishmania

Darlyuk, I., Goldman A., Roberts, S.C., Ullman, B., Rentschm D. and Zilberstein, D. Arginine homeostasis and transport in the human pathogen Leishmania donovani. J. Biol. Chemistry, J. Biol. Chem. 284, 19800-19807, (2009).

Goldman-Pinkovich, A., Balno, C., Strasser, R., Zeituni-Molad, M., Bendelak, K., Rentsch, D., Ephros, M., Wiese, M., Jardim, A., Myler, P.J., Zilberstein, D. An arginine deprivation response pathway is induced in Leishmania during macrophage invasion., PLoS Path, 14, e1005494 (2016).

Pawar, H., Puri, M., Fischer-Weinberger, R., Madhubala, R. and Zilberstein, D. The arginine sensing and transport binding sites are distinct in the human pathogen Leishmania. PLoS NTD, 13: e0007304 (2019).

Goldman-Pinkovich, A., Kannan, S., Nitzan-Koren, R., Puri, M., Bar-Avraham, Y., McDonald, J.A., Sur, A., Zhang, W.-W., Matlashewski, G., Madhubala, R., Myler, P.J. and Zilberstein, D. Sensing Host Arginine Is Essential for Leishmania Parasites’ Intracellular Development. mBio 11: e02023-20 (2020).

Dan Zilberstein