The sound of sexual commitment breaks the silencing of malaria parasites

Abstract

A fundamental binary decision is made by malaria parasites at every asexual cycle in the blood between further proliferation and differentiation into gametocytes, the mosquito transmissible stages. Recent studies on Plasmodium epigenetic regulation, transcriptional control and genetic basis of gametocyte production are merging today to unveil players and propose molecular mechanisms of this key branch point in the malaria parasite life cycle.

Keywords: AP2 transcription factors; developmental commitment; epigenetic silencing; gametocyte differentiation; malaria parasite transmission; parasite antigenic variation.