Sexual Differentiation and Development in the Malaria Parasite

• Published in: Parasitology today (Regular ed.) Vol. 14; no. 4; pp. 146 - 150
• Main Authors: Lobo, C.A., Kumar, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 01.04.1998; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; gemetocyte; gene expression; genetic recombination; Life cycle. Host-agent relationship. Pathogenesis; malaria; plasmodium falciparum; Protozoa; sexual development; sexual differentiation; genetic recombination; plasmodium falciparum; sexual differentiation; gemetocyte; sexual development; malaria; gene expression; Protozoa; Apicomplexa; Protozoal disease; Life history; Sexual development; Malaria; Parasite; Parasitosis; Gametocyte; Sexual reproduction; Infection; Plasmodium falciparum; Morphology; Pathogenic; Sexual differentiation
• ISSN: 0169-4758; 1873-1473
• DOI: 10.1016/S0169-4758(97)01210-6

The protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Plasmodium have a complex life cycle in which the asexual multiplication of parasites in the vertebrate host alternates with an obligate sexual reproduction in the mosquito. Gametocytes (male and female) produced in the vertebrate host are responsible for transmitting parasites to mosquitoes. Although our understanding of the biology and genetics of sexual differentiation in Plasmodium is expanding, the most basic questions concerning molecular mechanisms of sexual differentiation and sex determination still remain unanswered. Recently, insight into the control of this complex process in P. falciparum and P. berghei has come from studying parasite mutants with aberrant capacities for gametocyte production. Here, Cheryl-Ann Lobo and Nirbhay Kumar review these analyses in P. falciparum.