Journal article
A high parasite density environment induces transcriptional changes and cell death in Plasmodium falciparum blood stages
Evelyn S Chou, Sabia Z Abidi, Marian Teye, Aleksandra Leliwa-Sytek, Thomas S Rask, Simon A Cobbold, Gerry Q Tonkin-Hill, Krishanthi S Subramaniam, Anna E Sexton, Darren J Creek, Johanna P Daily, Michael F Duffy, Karen P Day
FEBS JOURNAL | WILEY | Published : 2018
DOI: 10.1111/febs.14370
Abstract
UNLABELLED: Transient regulation of Plasmodium numbers below the density that induces fever has been observed in chronic malaria infections in humans. This species transcending control cannot be explained by immunity alone. Using an in vitro system we have observed density dependent regulation of malaria population size as a mechanism to possibly explain these in vivo observations. Specifically, Plasmodium falciparum blood stages from a high but not low-density environment exhibited unique phenotypic changes during the late trophozoite (LT) and schizont stages of the intraerythrocytic cycle. These included in order of appearance: failure of schizonts to mature and merozoites to replicate, ap..
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Awarded by Wellcome Trust Programme
Awarded by National Institutes of Health
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank Mr. Michael Cammer for his image processing expertise, Dr. Ute Frevert for microscope use, Ms. Maria Carolina Bermudez for help in parasite culture, Dr. Leann Tilley for use of culture, imaging, and cytometry equipment, and Drs. Manuel Llinas, Ian Hastings, Bjorn Kafsack, and Matt Dixon for insightful experimental advice. We thank Wellcome Trust Programme Grant No. 041354, Ellison Foundation, CV Starr Foundation and Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and National Institutes of Health grant AI084156 funding awarded to KPD for salary support for KPD, ALS, TR, and SA. With thanks to the Biological Optical Microscopy Platform at the University of Melbourne for access to microscopy equipment and software licensing. The authors acknowledge the facilities and the scientific and technical assistance of the Metabolomics Australia Facility at Bio21 Institute, the University of Melbourne.