Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21080937›Full record

ArticleParasites & vectors2010

Investigating the evolution of apoptosis in malaria parasites: the importance of ecology.

Laura C Pollitt, Nick Colegrave, Shahid M Khan, Mohammed Sajid, Sarah E Reece

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Parasites & vectors, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. WantedMicrobial cell (Graz, Austria) · 2015
    Review
  10. War and peace: social interactions in infections.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2014
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Evolution of the animal apoptosis network.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology · 2013
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Apoptosis and apoptotic mimicry in Leishmania: an evolutionary perspective.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2012
    Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Laura C PollittInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, School of Biological Sciences, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK. laura.pollitt@ed.ac.uk.
Nick Colegrave
Shahid M Khan
Mohammed Sajid
Sarah E Reece

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Apoptosis is a precisely regulated process of cell death which occurs widely in multicellular organisms and is essential for normal development and immune defences. In recent years, interest has grown in the occurrence of apoptosis in unicellular organisms. In particular, as apoptosis has been reported in a wide range of species, including protozoan malaria parasites and trypanosomes, it may provide a novel target for intervention. However, it is important to understand when and why parasites employ an apoptosis strategy before the likely long- and short-term success of such an intervention can be evaluated. The occurrence of apoptosis in unicellular parasites provides a challenge for evolutionary theory to explain as organisms are expected to have evolved to maximise their own proliferation, not death. One possible explanation is that protozoan parasites undergo apoptosis in order to gain a group benefit from controlling their density as this prevents premature vector mortality. However, experimental manipulations to examine the ultimate causes behind apoptosis in parasites are lacking. In this review, we focus on malaria parasites to outline how an evolutionary framework can help make predictions about the ecological circumstances under which apoptosis could evolve. We then highlight the ecological considerations that should be taken into account when designing evolutionary experiments involving markers of cell death, and we call for collaboration between researchers in different fields to identify and develop appropriate markers in reference to parasite ecology and to resolve debates on terminology.

Identifiers

PMID21080937
PMCPMC3136143

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.