Smith T G, Lourenço P, Carter R, Walliker D, Ranford-Cartwright L C
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Parasitology. 2000 Aug;121 ( Pt 2):127-33. doi: 10.1017/s0031182099006265.
The differentiation of the two sexes in the gametocytogenesis of Plasmodium falciparum was investigated using a plaque assay and antibodies specific for various stages and sexes of gametocytes. Immunofluorescence assays on plaques of cultured parasites grown in monolayers of erythrocytes revealed that the merozoites released from a single sexually-committed schizont became either all male or all female gametocytes. Thus, the commitment of this species to differentiate into one sex or the other is likely to occur prior to the nuclear division of the sexually-committed schizont. The characteristic female-biased gametocyte sex ratio observed for many Plasmodium species is manifested in P. falciparum by a greater percentage of schizonts that produce female gametocytes (67-71%) than those that yield males. From the plaque assay, it was determined that the number of gametocytes produced per sexually-committed schizont was similar for both sexes, indicating that allocation of parasite resources was equal for each sex of gametocyte. The timing of sexual differentiation and features of the gametocyte sex ratio is discussed in relation to previous observations on P. falciparum and related malaria parasites.
利用噬菌斑测定法以及针对配子体不同阶段和性别的特异性抗体，对恶性疟原虫配子体生成过程中的两性分化进行了研究。对在红细胞单层中培养的寄生虫噬菌斑进行免疫荧光测定，结果显示，从单个已确定有性发育的裂殖体释放出的裂殖子，要么全部发育为雄配子体，要么全部发育为雌配子体。因此，该物种分化为一种性别或另一种性别的决定，很可能发生在已确定有性发育的裂殖体进行核分裂之前。许多疟原虫物种所观察到的典型的雌配子体性别比例偏差，在恶性疟原虫中表现为产生雌配子体的裂殖体百分比（67 - 71%）高于产生雄配子体的裂殖体。通过噬菌斑测定法确定，每个已确定有性发育的裂殖体产生的两性配子体数量相似，这表明寄生虫资源在每种性别的配子体之间分配是相等的。结合先前对恶性疟原虫及相关疟原虫的观察结果，讨论了性别分化的时间以及配子体性别比例的特征。
