Plasmodium falciparum utilizes pyrophosphate to fuel an essential proton pump in the ring stage and the transition to trophozoite stage.

ABSTRACT: During asexual growth and replication cycles inside red blood cells, the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum primarily relies on glycolysis for energy supply, as its single mitochondrion performs little or no oxidative phosphorylation. Post merozoite invasion of a host red blood cell, the ring stage lasts approximately 20 hours and was traditionally thought to be metabolically quiescent. However, recent studies have shown that the ring stage is active in several energy-costly processes, including gene transcription, protein translation, protein export, and movement inside the host cell. It has remained unclear whether a low glycolytic flux alone can meet the energy demand of the ring stage over a long period post invasion. Here, we demonstrate that the metabolic by-product pyrophosphate

SUBMITTER: Solebo O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10732439 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature