Linking nutrient sensing and gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum blood‐stage parasites. Issue 5 (13th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kumar, Manish; Skillman, Kristen; Duraisingh, Manoj T.
• Other Names: Tonkin Christopher guestEditor.; Soldati‐Favre Dominique guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: Molecular microbiology. Volume 115:Issue 5(2021)
• Page Start: 891
• Page End: 900
• Publication Date: 2020-12-13
• Subjects: epigenetics -- gene expression -- malaria -- metabolites -- nutrient sensing; Molecular microbiology -- Periodicals; 572.829
• DOI: 10.1111/mmi.14652
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-382X

Abstract

Abstract: 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. Abstract : Plasmodium parasites go through a complex life cycle, with the infection of multiple cell types and they need to adapt to changes in the nutritional environment. Changes in the levels of host metabolites such as lipids, sugars and amino acids can be sensed through specific nutrient sensing pathways in the parasite. In this MicroReview, we discuss what is known about the interplay between metabolites and their respective sensor proteins in the blood stages of P. falciparum that elicit changes in gene expression and alter the processes of asexual proliferation, antigenic variation and transmission.