Sphingolipid synthesis and membrane formation by Plasmodium.
Plasmodium falciparum is a protozoan parasite that causes the most virulent o f human malarias. The asexual blood-stage organism invades and multiplies in a vacuole in the mature erythrocyte. During intravacuolar growth, it induces the formation of a novel network o f tubovesicular membranes, the TVM, that is not present in uninfected red blood cells. Recent data suggest that sphingomyelin biosynthesis by the parasite is an essential requirement for the assembly o f the TVM. Furthermore, sphingolipid synthesis as well as the formation and function o f the TVM may provide new targets for chemotherapy against malaria parasites.
Haldar
K
K
Dept of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. haldar@cmgm.stanford.edu