Malaria Parasite Metabolic Pathways

Rhoptry discharge Apicomplexan parasites are unicellular eukaryotes that invade the cells in which they proliferate. The development of genetic tools in Toxoplasma, and then in Plasmodium, in the 1990s allowed the first description of the molecular machinery used for motil

Tail-anchored proteins and the GET pathway Tail-anchored (TA) proteins are defined by the absence of N-terminus signal sequence and the presence of a single transmembrane domain (TMD) proximal to their C-terminus. They play fundamental roles in cellular processes including vesicular trafficking, p

Predicted Tail anchored proteins Tail-anchored (TA) proteins, characterized by an absence of N-terminal signal sequence and the presence of a transmembrane domain near the C-terminus, are post-translationally inserted at organellar membranes by the conserved multi-component Guided Entry

Proteins identified from extracellular culture supernatant The malaria agent Plasmodium falciparum is predicted to export a cohort of several hundred proteins to remodel the host erythrocyte. However, proteins actively exported by the asexual intracellular parasite beyond the host red blood cell membrane (before

Proteins associated with placental parasites During pregnancy, IE sequester in the placenta. Placental IE bind to the molecule chondroitin sulfate A (CSA) and preferentially transcribe the gene that encodes VAR2CSA, a member of the PfEMP1 variant surface antigen family. Over successive pregnancies w

The liver stages Successful invasion establishes the sporozoite inside a parasitophorous vacuole (PV) with a hepatocyte-derived PV membrane (PVM) forming the interface with the hepatocytecytoplasm. The PV is essential for parasite survival and is extensively remodeled by

Transcriptomic changes in HbAS RBC infected cells During in vitro cultivation, parasites matured normally in HbAS RBCs, and the temporal expression was largely unperturbed of the highly ordered transcriptional program that underlies the parasite's maturation throughout the intraerythrocytic development c

miRNAs and lncRNAs in malaria The mechanisms regulating gene expression during Plasmodium infection remain largely elusive, though several lines of evidence implicate a major involvement of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). The ncRNAs have been found to play a key role in regulating transcrip

The fibrinolytic system and its roles in host and parasite Plasmin, the effector protease of the human fibrinolytic system, degrades fibrin, extracellular matrix proteins, complement proteins and immunoglobulins. Plasmodium and other vector-borne pathogens co-opt plasmin to facilitate tissue invasion and dissemin

Malaria, sickle cell hemoglobin, high-mannose glycans, and erythrocyte phagocytosis Plasmodium falciparum shieldsfrom adaptive immunity in erythrocytes, but how might the innate immune system recognize infected cells? Replication by the parasiter esults in oxidative stress, causing surface expression of high-mannose glycans. Thes