Protein export marks the early phase of gametocytogenesis of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: Despite over a century of study of malaria parasites, parts of the Plasmodium falciparum life cycle remain virtually unknown. One of these is the early gametocyte stage, a round shaped cell morphologically similar to an asexual trophozoite in which major cellular transformations ensure subsequent development of the elongated gametocyte. We developed a protocol to obtain for the first time highly purified preparations of early gametocytes using a transgenic line expressing a green fluorescent protein from the onset of gametocytogenesis. We determined the cellular proteome (1427 proteins) of this parasite stage by high accuracy tandem mass spectrometry and newly determined the proteomes of asexual trophozoites and mature gametocytes, identifying altogether 1090 previously undetected parasite

SUBMITTER: Silvestrini F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2938084 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature