alaria parasites, Plasmodia , spend most of their asexual life cycle within red blood cells, where they proliferate and mature. The erythrocyte cytoplasm has very low [Ca 2 ] ( 100 nM), which is very different from the extracellular environment encountered by most eukaryotic cells. The absence of extracellular Ca 2 is usually incompatible with normal cell functions and survival. In the present ...

Gametocyte maturation in Plasmodium falciparum is a critical step in the transmission of malaria. While the majority of parasites proliferate asexually in red blood cells, a small fraction of parasites undergo sexual conversion and mature over 2 weeks to become competent for transmission to a mosquito vector. Immature gametocytes sequester in deep tissues while mature stages must be able to cir...

MOTIVATION The evolution of resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria against most available treatments is a major global health threat. Population genetics approaches are commonly used to model the spread of drug resistance. Due to uncommon features in malaria biology, existing forward-time population genetics simulators cannot suitably model Plasmodium falciparum malaria. RESULTS Here we ...

A fundamental problem in systems biology and whole genome sequence analysis is how to infer functions for the many uncharacterized proteins that are identified, whether they are conserved across organisms of different phyla or are phylum-specific. This problem is especially acute in pathogens, such as malaria parasites, where genetic and biochemical investigations are likely to be more difficul...

Malaria parasites retain a relict plastid (apicoplast) from a photosynthetic ancestor shared with dinoflagellate algae. The apicoplast is a useful drug target; blocking housekeeping pathways such as genome replication and translation in the organelle kills parasites and protects against malaria. The apicoplast of Plasmodium falciparum encodes 30 proteins and a suite of rRNAs and tRNAs that faci...

THE TAPEWORM and roundworm parasites reported to affect cattle tliroughoiit the world comprise over 70 different species. Although some species occur infrequently and others are comparatively harmless to their bovine hosts, some exact a heavy annual toll from the beef and dairy industries. Losses are due to deaths from gross parasitism, lowered vitality and resultant poor growth and performance...

The apicomplexan parasite Plasmodium falciparum causes malignant malaria. The mechanism of parasite egress from infected erythrocytes that disseminate parasites in the host at the end of each asexual cycle is unknown. Two new stages of the egress program are revealed: (1) swelling of the parasitophorous vacuole accompanied by shrinkage of the erythrocyte compartment, and (2) poration of the hos...

Malaria is a life-threatening infectious disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium, affecting more than 200 million people worldwide every year and leading to about a half million deaths. Malaria parasites of humans have evolved resistance to all current antimalarial drugs, urging for the discovery of new effective compounds. Given that the inhibition of deoxyuridine triphosphatase of...

Buckling, A., Crooks, L., and Read A. 1999. Plasmodium chabaudi: Effect of antimalarial drugs on gametocytogenesis. Experimental Parasitology 93, 45–54. The proportion of asexual blood-stage malaria parasites that develop into transmission stages (gametocytes) can increase in response to stress. We investigated whether stress imposed by a variety of antimalarial drugs administered before or dur...