Babiker Hamza A, Schneider Petra, Reece Sarah E
Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University, Alkhod, PO Box 35, Muscat, Code 123, Oman, UK.
Trends Parasitol. 2008 Nov;24(11):525-30. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2008.08.001. Epub 2008 Sep 16.
In vertebrate hosts, malaria parasites produce specialized male and female sexual stages (gametocytes). Soon after being taken up by a mosquito, gametocytes rapidly produce gametes and, once mated, they infect their vector and can be transmitted to new hosts. Despite being the parasite stages that were first identified (over a century ago), gametocytes have remained elusive, and basic questions remain concerning their biology. However, the postgenomic era has substantiated information on the specialized molecular machinery of gametocytogenesis and expedited the development of molecular tools to detect and quantify gametocytes. The application of such highly sensitive and specific tools has opened up novel approaches and provided new insights into gametocyte biology. Here, we review the discoveries made during the past decade, highlight unanswered questions and suggest new directions.
在脊椎动物宿主中，疟原虫会产生专门的雄性和雌性有性阶段（配子体）。被蚊子摄取后不久，配子体迅速产生配子，一旦交配，它们就会感染其传播媒介并可传播给新的宿主。尽管配子体是最早被发现的寄生虫阶段（一个多世纪前），但它们仍然难以捉摸，关于其生物学的基本问题依然存在。然而，后基因组时代证实了有关配子体发生的专门分子机制的信息，并加速了检测和量化配子体的分子工具的开发。这种高度灵敏和特异的工具的应用开辟了新的途径，并为配子体生物学提供了新的见解。在这里，我们回顾过去十年的发现，突出未解决的问题并提出新的方向。
