ArticleEukaryotic cell2014
Type II fatty acid biosynthesis is essential for Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite development in the midgut of Anopheles mosquitoes.
Article in Eukaryotic cell, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 91 papers.
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91 citing papers in PubMed, 155 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
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- PfApiAT2 is a proline transporter essential for the transmission of Plasmodium falciparum by the mosquito vector.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Demystifying Plasmodium development within the Anopheles mosquito.Current opinion in microbiology · 2026Review
- Acyl Carrier Protein is Essential for Apicoplast Biogenesis in Malaria Parasites Independent of Fatty Acid Synthesis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- PfApiAT2 is a proline transporter essential for the transmission ofResearch square · 2026Article
- Evolutionary rate covariation across malaria parasite species enables inference of protein interactions.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- PfApiAT2 is a proline transporter essential for the transmission ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Inhibition of Wnt signaling in primary human hepatocytes promotes Plasmodium falciparum liver stage development.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- The path from early- to late-liver stage arresting genetically attenuated parasites as a malaria vaccination strategy.NPJ vaccines · 2025Review
- Host sphingolipids supportmBio · 2025Article
- A P5-ATPase, TgFLP12, diverging from plant chloroplast lipid transporters mediates apicoplast fatty export in Toxoplasma.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A Plasmodium LARC GAP provides preerythrocytic, stage and species transcending protection in mice.NPJ vaccines · 2025Article
- A CRISPR homing screen finds a chloroquine resistance transporter-like protein of the Plasmodium oocyst essential for mosquito transmission of malaria.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Identification of visible and near-infrared signature peaks for arboviruses and Plasmodium falciparum.PloS one · 2025Article
- Targeting Malaria's Achilles' Heels: A Review of Plasmodium Life Cycle Vulnerabilities for Drug Discovery.Current topics in medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- A conserved Plasmodium nuclear protein is critical for late liver stage development.Communications biology · 2024Article
- A Plasmodium late liver stage arresting GAP provides superior protection in mice.NPJ vaccines · 2024Article
- A pyruvate transporter in the apicoplast of apicomplexan parasites.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Apicoplast-Resident Processes: Exploiting the Chink in the Armour ofAdvances in pharmacological and pharmaceutical sciences · 2024Review
31 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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20 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The prodigious rate at which malaria parasites proliferate during asexual blood-stage replication, midgut sporozoite production, and intrahepatic development creates a substantial requirement for essential nutrients, including fatty acids that likely are necessary for parasite membrane formation. Plasmodium parasites obtain fatty acids either by scavenging from the vertebrate host and mosquito vector or by producing fatty acids de novo via the type two fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (FAS-II). Here, we study the FAS-II pathway in Plasmodium falciparum, the species responsible for the most lethal form of human malaria. Using antibodies, we find that the FAS-II enzyme FabI is expressed in mosquito midgut oocysts and sporozoites as well as liver-stage parasites but not during the blood stages. As expected, FabI colocalizes with the apicoplast-targeted acyl carrier protein, indicating that FabI functions in the apicoplast. We further analyze the FAS-II pathway in Plasmodium falciparum by assessing the functional consequences of deleting fabI and fabB/F. Targeted deletion or disruption of these genes in P. falciparum did not affect asexual blood-stage replication or the generation of midgut oocysts; however, subsequent sporozoite development was abolished. We conclude that the P. falciparum FAS-II pathway is essential for sporozoite development within the midgut oocyst. These findings reveal an important distinction from the rodent Plasmodium parasites P. berghei and P. yoelii, where the FAS-II pathway is known to be required for normal parasite progression through the liver stage but is not required for oocyst development in the Anopheles mosquito midgut.
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