ArticlePLoS pathogens2020
Actomyosin forces and the energetics of red blood cell invasion by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Antimalarial cytoskeletal targeting with broad apicomplexan activity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Identification of UCB-9721 as a potent inhibitor of MyoA, the essential class XIV myosin motor of apicomplexan parasites.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Physiology of invasiveFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Stage specific immune responses to schistosomes may explain conflicting results in malaria-schistosome coinfection studies.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2025Article
- Plasmodium RON11 triggers biogenesis of the merozoite rhoptry pair and is essential for erythrocyte invasion.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Article
- Mechanism of small molecule inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum myosin A informs antimalarial drug design.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Changes in KInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Sulfonylpiperazine compounds prevent Plasmodium falciparum invasion of red blood cells through interference with actin-1/profilin dynamics.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- Divergent Plasmodium actin residues are essential for filament localization, mosquito salivary gland invasion and malaria transmission.PLoS pathogens · 2022Article
- Phosphorylation of myosin A regulates gliding motility and is essential for Plasmodium transmission.EMBO reports · 2022Article
- RBC membrane biomechanics and Plasmodium falciparum invasion: probing beyond ligand-receptor interactions.Trends in parasitology · 2022Review
- Revisiting the malaria hypothesis: accounting for polygenicity and pleiotropy.Trends in parasitology · 2022Review
- Live-cell fluorescence imaging of microgametogenesis in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.PLoS pathogens · 2022Article
- Biophysical Tools and Concepts Enable Understanding of Asexual Blood Stage Malaria.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- The actomyosin interface contains an evolutionary conserved core and an ancillary interface involved in specificity.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Full-lengtheLife · 2020Article
- The Dynamic Roles of the Inner Membrane Complex in the Multiple Stages of the Malaria Parasite.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2020Review
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
All symptoms of malaria disease are associated with the asexual blood stages of development, involving cycles of red blood cell (RBC) invasion and egress by the Plasmodium spp. merozoite. Merozoite invasion is rapid and is actively powered by a parasite actomyosin motor. The current accepted model for actomyosin force generation envisages arrays of parasite myosins, pushing against short actin filaments connected to the external milieu that drive the merozoite forwards into the RBC. In Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent human malaria species, Myosin A (PfMyoA) is critical for parasite replication. However, the precise function of PfMyoA in invasion, its regulation, the role of other myosins and overall energetics of invasion remain unclear. Here, we developed a conditional mutagenesis strategy combined with live video microscopy to probe PfMyoA function and that of the auxiliary motor PfMyoB in invasion. By imaging conditional mutants with increasing defects in force production, based on disruption to a key PfMyoA phospho-regulation site, the absence of the PfMyoA essential light chain, or complete motor absence, we define three distinct stages of incomplete RBC invasion. These three defects reveal three energetic barriers to successful entry: RBC deformation (pre-entry), mid-invasion initiation, and completion of internalisation, each requiring an active parasite motor. In defining distinct energetic barriers to invasion, these data illuminate the mechanical challenges faced in this remarkable process of protozoan parasitism, highlighting distinct myosin functions and identifying potential targets for preventing malaria pathogenesis.
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