“HDP1 is essential for the development of the parasite’s transmissible stages,” said senior author Björn Kafsack, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. The finding provides important new insights into how the parasite controls this conversion into gametocytes. 27 in Nature Microbiology, investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine report they have identified a protein called HDP1 that plays a critical role in activating genes required for the development of these male and female stages. However, these asexual forms must transform into male and female stages called gametocytes in order to infect the mosquitoes that spread the disease. Malaria symptoms occur once the parasite’s asexual stages begin replicating inside red blood cells. Malaria parasites, of which Plasmodium falciparum is the most widespread and lethal, are transmitted by mosquitoes and have a complex life cycle. Malaria kills a young child every two minutes – more than any other infectious disease. A finding from Weill Cornell Medicine researchers sheds new light on the transmission of malaria, one of the biggest global public health challenges.
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