TY - JOUR
T1 - Sexual development in Plasmodium parasites
T2 - Knowing when it's time to commit
AU - Josling, Gabrielle A.
AU - Llinás, Manuel
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors apologize to all whose work could not be cited owing to space limitations. The authors acknowledge funding from the US National Institutes of Health (grant R01 AI076276) and support from The Pennsylvania State University. G.A.J. is supported by the Sir Keith Murdoch Fellowship from the American Australian Association.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/8/14
Y1 - 2015/8/14
N2 - Malaria is a devastating infectious disease that is caused by blood-borne apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. These pathogens have a complex lifecycle, which includes development in the anopheline mosquito vector and in the liver and red blood cells of mammalian hosts, a process which takes days to weeks, depending on the Plasmodium species. Productive transmission between the mammalian host and the mosquito requires transitioning between asexual and sexual forms of the parasite. Blood- stage parasites replicate cyclically and are mostly asexual, although a small fraction of these convert into male and female sexual forms (gametocytes) in each reproductive cycle. Despite many years of investigation, the molecular processes that elicit sexual differentiation have remained largely unknown. In this Review, we highlight several important recent discoveries that have identified epigenetic factors and specific transcriptional regulators of gametocyte commitment and development, providing crucial insights into this obligate cellular differentiation process.
AB - Malaria is a devastating infectious disease that is caused by blood-borne apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. These pathogens have a complex lifecycle, which includes development in the anopheline mosquito vector and in the liver and red blood cells of mammalian hosts, a process which takes days to weeks, depending on the Plasmodium species. Productive transmission between the mammalian host and the mosquito requires transitioning between asexual and sexual forms of the parasite. Blood- stage parasites replicate cyclically and are mostly asexual, although a small fraction of these convert into male and female sexual forms (gametocytes) in each reproductive cycle. Despite many years of investigation, the molecular processes that elicit sexual differentiation have remained largely unknown. In this Review, we highlight several important recent discoveries that have identified epigenetic factors and specific transcriptional regulators of gametocyte commitment and development, providing crucial insights into this obligate cellular differentiation process.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84939500788&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84939500788&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/nrmicro3519
DO - 10.1038/nrmicro3519
M3 - Review article
C2 - 26272409
AN - SCOPUS:84939500788
SN - 1740-1526
VL - 13
SP - 573
EP - 587
JO - Nature Reviews Microbiology
JF - Nature Reviews Microbiology
IS - 9
ER -