Kongkasuriyachai Darin, Kumar Nirbhay
Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Int J Parasitol. 2002 Dec 4;32(13):1559-66. doi: 10.1016/s0020-7519(02)00184-4.
The various stages of the malaria parasites in the vertebrate host and in the mosquito vector offer numerous candidates for vaccine and drug development. However, the biological complexity of the parasites and the interaction with the immune system of the host continue to frustrate all such efforts thus far. While most of the targets for drug and vaccine design have focused on the asexual stages, the sexual stages of the parasite are critical for transmission and maintenance of parasites among susceptible vertebrate hosts. Sexual stage parasites undergo a series of morphological and biochemical changes during their development, accompanied by a co-ordinated cascade of a distinct expression pattern of sexual stage specific proteins. Mechanisms underlying the developmental switch from asexual parasite to sexual parasite still remain elusive. Methods that can break the malaria transmission cycle thus occupy a central place in the overall malaria control strategies. This paper provides a review of genes expressed in sexually differentiated Plasmodium. In the past few years, a molecular approach based on targeted gene disruption has revealed fascinating biological roles for many of the sexual stage gene products. In addition, we will briefly discuss other functional genomic approaches employed to study not only sexual but also other aspects of host-parasite biology.
疟原虫在脊椎动物宿主和蚊子媒介中的各个阶段为疫苗和药物开发提供了众多候选对象。然而，寄生虫的生物学复杂性以及与宿主免疫系统的相互作用至今仍使所有此类努力受挫。虽然大多数药物和疫苗设计的靶点都集中在无性阶段，但寄生虫的有性阶段对于寄生虫在易感脊椎动物宿主之间的传播和维持至关重要。有性阶段的寄生虫在发育过程中会经历一系列形态和生化变化，同时伴随着性阶段特异性蛋白独特表达模式的协调级联反应。从无性寄生虫向有性寄生虫发育转变的潜在机制仍然难以捉摸。因此，能够打破疟疾传播循环的方法在总体疟疾控制策略中占据核心地位。本文综述了在有性分化疟原虫中表达的基因。在过去几年中，基于靶向基因破坏的分子方法揭示了许多有性阶段基因产物迷人的生物学作用。此外，我们还将简要讨论用于研究宿主 - 寄生虫生物学的有性以及其他方面的其他功能基因组学方法。
