Tetracyclines specifically target the apicoplast of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: Tetracyclines are effective but slow-acting antimalarial drugs whose mechanism of action remains uncertain. To characterize the antimalarial mechanism of tetracyclines, we evaluated their stage-specific activities, impacts on parasite transcription, and effects on two predicted organelle targets, the apicoplast and the mitochondrion, in cultured Plasmodium falciparum. Antimalarial effects were much greater after two 48-h life cycles than after one cycle, even if the drugs were removed at the end of the first cycle. Doxycycline-treated parasites appeared morphologically normal until late in the second cycle of treatment but failed to develop into merozoites. Doxycycline specifically impaired the expression of apicoplast genes. Apicoplast morphology initially appeared normal in the presence

SUBMITTER: Dahl EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1563505 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature