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Linking nutrient sensing and gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum blood‐stage parasites
Author(s) -
Kumar Manish,
Skillman Kristen,
Duraisingh Manoj T.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/mmi.14652
Subject(s) - biology , malaria , plasmodium falciparum , plasmodium (life cycle) , nutrient sensing , antigenic variation , tropism , parasite hosting , transmission (telecommunications) , gene , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , immune system , genetics , signal transduction , virus , engineering , world wide web , computer science , electrical engineering
Malaria is one of the most life‐threatening infectious diseases worldwide, caused by infection of humans with parasites of the genus Plasmodium . The complex life cycle of Plasmodium parasites is shared between two hosts, with infection of multiple cell types, and the parasite needs to adapt for survival and transmission through significantly different metabolic environments. Within the blood‐stage alone, parasites encounter changing levels of key nutrients, including sugars, amino acids, and lipids, due to differences in host dietary nutrition, cellular tropism, and pathogenesis. In this review, we consider the mechanisms that the most lethal of malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, uses to sense nutrient levels and elicit changes in gene expression during blood‐stage infections. These changes are brought about by several metabolic intermediates and their corresponding sensor proteins. Sensing of distinct nutritional signals can drive P. falciparum to alter the key blood‐stage processes of proliferation, antigenic variation, and transmission.