title: Overlooked post-translational modifications of proteins in Plasmodium falciparum: N- and O-glycosylation -- a review.
abstract: Human malignant malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum and accounts for almost 900,000 deaths per year, the majority of which are children and pregnant women in developing countries. There has been significant effort to understand the biology of P. falciparum and its interactions with the host. However, these studies are hindered because several aspects of parasite biology remain controversial, such as N- and O-glycosylation. This review describes work that has been done to elucidate protein glycosylation in P. falciparum and it focuses on describing biochemical evidence for N- and O-glycosylation. Although there has been significant work in this field, these aspects of parasite biochemistry need to be explored further.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Cristiana S de
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Macedo
authors.forename: Ralph T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: Adriane R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Todeschini
authors.forename: Jose O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Previato
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mendonça-Previato
mesh_terms: D006031:Glycosylation; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000378:metabolism*; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins