Malaria parasites solve the problem of a low calcium environment.
The parasite responsible for malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, spends much of its life in the RBC under conditions of low cytosolic Ca2+. This poses an interesting problem for a parasite that depends on a Ca2+ signaling system to carry out its vital functions. This long standing puzzle has now been resolved by a clever series of experiments performed by Gazarini et al. (2003). Using advances in fluorescent Ca2+ imaging (Grynkiewics, G., M. Poenie, and R.Y. Tsien. 1985. J. Biol. Chem. 260:3440-3450; Hofer, A., and T. Machen. 1994. Am. J. Physiol. 267:G442-G451; Hofer, A.M., B. Landolfi, L. Debellis, T. Pozzan, and S. Curci. 1998. EMBO J. 17:1986-1995), these authors have elucidated the source of the Ca2+ gradient that allows the accumulation of intracellular Ca2+ within the parasite.
Camacho
Patricia
P
Department of Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, USA. camacho@uthscsa.edu
D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000172:deficiency*; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology*; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology
D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D002118:Calcium