ArticleEvolution, medicine, and public health2013
Stress and sex in malaria parasites: Why does commitment vary?
Article in Evolution, medicine, and public health, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed.
- AP2-HS and a GDV1 regulatory feedback loop mediate environmental induction of sexual conversion in Plasmodium falciparum.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Towards an evolutionary baseline model ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Plastic responses ofBiology letters · 2025Article
- Malaria parasites can optimize transmission investment by sensing two within-host cues.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Phenotypic and fitness consequences of plasticity in the rhythmic replication of malaria parasites.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Gene expression analyses reveal differences in children's response to malaria according to their age.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Gene expression analyses reveal differences in children's response to malaria according to their age.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Biology and epidemiology ofParasite epidemiology and control · 2023Review
- Plasmodium falciparum Sexual Commitment Rate Variation among Clinical Isolates and Diverse Laboratory-Adapted Lines.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Declines in prevalence alter the optimal level of sexual investment for the malaria parasiteProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Stochastic expression of invasion genes in Plasmodium falciparum schizonts.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Revisiting the Effect of Pharmaceuticals on Transmission Stage Formation in the Malaria ParasiteFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- Real-time PCR assays for detection and quantification of early P. falciparum gametocyte stages.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- The private life of malaria parasites: Strategies for sexual reproduction.Molecular and biochemical parasitology · 2021Review
- Targeting Gametocytes of the Malaria ParasitePathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriage in symptomatic patients shows significant association with genetically diverse infections, anaemia, and asexual stage density.Malaria journal · 2021Article
- Plasmodium-a brief introduction to the parasites causing human malaria and their basic biology.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2021Review
- Automated detection and staging of malaria parasites from cytological smears using convolutional neural networks.Biological imaging · 2021Article
- Review
- Lactic Acid Supplementation Increases Quantity and Quality of Gametocytes in Plasmodium falciparum Culture.Infection and immunity · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
For vector-borne parasites such as malaria, how within- and between-host processes interact to shape transmission is poorly understood. In the host, malaria parasites replicate asexually but for transmission to occur, specialized sexual stages (gametocytes) must be produced. Despite the central role that gametocytes play in disease transmission, explanations of why parasites adjust gametocyte production in response to in-host factors remain controversial. We propose that evolutionary theory developed to explain variation in reproductive effort in multicellular organisms, provides a framework to understand gametocyte investment strategies. We examine why parasites adjust investment in gametocytes according to the impact of changing conditions on their in-host survival. We then outline experiments required to determine whether plasticity in gametocyte investment enables parasites to maintain fitness in a variable environment. Gametocytes are a target for anti-malarial transmission-blocking interventions so understanding plasticity in investment is central to maximizing the success of control measures in the face of parasite evolution.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.