A high susceptibility to redox imbalance of the transmissible stages of Plasmodium falciparum revealed with a luciferase-based mature gametocyte assay.

ABSTRACT: The goal to prevent Plasmodium falciparum transmission from humans to mosquitoes requires the identification of targetable metabolic processes in the mature (stage V) gametocytes, the sexual stages circulating in the bloodstream. This task is complicated by the apparently low metabolism of these cells, which renders them refractory to most antimalarial inhibitors and constrains the development of specific and sensitive cell-based assays. Here, we identify and functionally characterize the regulatory regions of the P. falciparum gene PF3D7_1234700, encoding a CPW-WPC protein and named here Upregulated in Late Gametocytes (ULG8), which we have leveraged to express reporter genes in mature male and female gametocytes. Using transgenic parasites containing a pfULG8-luciferase cassette, we inve

SUBMITTER: Siciliano G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5380559 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature