Commit and transmit: molecular players in Plasmodium sexual development and zygote differentiation
Abstract
During each cycle of asexual endomitotic division in erythrocytes, the malaria parasite makes a fundamental and crucial decision: to continue to invade and proliferate or to differentiate into gametocytes ready for continuation of sexual development. The proteins and regulatory pathways involved in Plasmodium sexual development have been of great interest in recent years as targets for blocking malaria transmission. However, the 'Holy Grail', the master switch orchestrating asexual-to-sexual commitment and further differentiation, has remained elusive - until now. Here we highlight the recent studies identifying the epigenetic and transcriptional master regulators of sexual commitment and discuss the key players in reversible phosphorylation pathways involved in sexual and zygote differentiation.
Journal details
Journal Trends in Parasitology
Volume 31
Issue number 12
Pages 676-685
Publication date
Full text links
Publisher website (DOI) 10.1016/j.pt.2015.08.002
Europe PubMed Central 26440790
Pubmed 26440790
Keywords
Related topics
Type of publication