Protein export in Plasmodium parasites: From the endoplasmic reticulum to the vacuolar export machine

Abstract

It is somewhat paradoxical that the malaria parasite's survival strategy involves spending almost all of its blood-stage existence residing behind a two-membrane barrier in a host red blood cell, yet giving considerable attention to exporting parasite-encoded proteins back across these membranes. These exported proteins are thought to play diverse roles and are crucial in pathogenic processes, such as re-modelling of the erythrocyte cytoskeleton and mediating the export of a major virulence protein known as Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1), and in metabolic processes such as nutrient uptake and solute exchange. Despite these varied roles most exported proteins ha..