A particle-based computational model to analyse remodelling of the red blood cell cytoskeleton during malaria infections.

ABSTRACT: Red blood cells can withstand the harsh mechanical conditions in the vasculature only because the bending rigidity of their plasma membrane is complemented by the shear elasticity of the underlying spectrin-actin network. During an infection by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite mines host actin from the junctional complexes and establishes a system of adhesive knobs, whose main structural component is the knob-associated histidine rich protein (KAHRP) secreted by the parasite. Here we aim at a mechanistic understanding of this dramatic transformation process. We have developed a particle-based computational model for the cytoskeleton of red blood cells and simulated it with Brownian dynamics to predict the mechanical changes resulting from actin mining and KAHRP-clus

SUBMITTER: Jager J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9020725 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature