Scientists at the University of Alberta in Canada have found that the plasmodia that cause malaria label their proteins with carbohydrates to transport them, a process that is critical to the parasite's life cycle. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Some species of Plasmodium, a parasitic single-celled organism, can cause malaria. These microorganisms are carried from one victim to another by mosquitoes. Scientists believe that malaria plasmodia have a complex life cycle, as they need to constantly change their shape and not be detected by immune cells.
Scientists decided to find out how the parasites manage to survive, and it turned out that plasmodia attach carbohydrates to the CSP and TRAP proteins. The parasite's ability to "tag" key proteins with carbohydrates is important for two stages in the life cycle of malaria: in the earliest stages of the disease, when plasmodia travel through the body and invade the liver, and later, when it is transmitted to a mosquito from an infected person. According to the authors of the work, if Plasmodium is deprived of the ability to label proteins with carbohydrates, the parasite will not be able to enter the liver and will not survive in a foreign organism.
The results of the work will help improve the existing protein vaccine against the deadly form of the disease.
