Chawla Jyotsna, Oberstaller Jenna, Adams John H
Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, 12901 Bruce B Downs Blvd, MDC 7, Tampa, FL 33612, USA.
Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research and USF Genomics Program, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 3720 Spectrum Blvd, Suite 404, Tampa, FL 33612, USA.
Pathogens. 2021 Mar 16;10(3):346. doi: 10.3390/pathogens10030346.
Mosquito transmission of the deadly malaria parasite is mediated by mature sexual forms (gametocytes). Circulating in the vertebrate host, relatively few intraerythrocytic gametocytes are picked up during a bloodmeal to continue sexual development in the mosquito vector. Human-to-vector transmission thus represents an infection bottleneck in the parasite's life cycle for therapeutic interventions to prevent malaria. Even though recent progress has been made in the identification of genetic factors linked to gametocytogenesis, a plethora of genes essential for sexual-stage development are yet to be unraveled. In this review, we revisit transmission biology by discussing targetable features of gametocytes and provide a perspective on a forward-genetic approach for identification of novel transmission-blocking candidates in the future.
致命疟原虫的蚊子传播是由成熟的有性形态（配子体）介导的。配子体在脊椎动物宿主体内循环，在蚊虫叮咬吸血时，相对较少的红细胞内配子体被摄取，从而在蚊媒中继续进行有性发育。因此，人到蚊媒的传播是疟原虫生命周期中的一个感染瓶颈，是预防疟疾治疗干预的靶点。尽管最近在确定与配子体形成相关的遗传因素方面取得了进展，但性阶段发育所必需的大量基因仍有待阐明。在这篇综述中，我们通过讨论配子体的可靶向特征来重新审视传播生物学，并对未来鉴定新型传播阻断候选物的正向遗传学方法提供一个观点。
