title: Sugar activation and glycosylation in Plasmodium.
abstract: Glycoconjugates are important mediators of host-pathogen interactions and are usually very abundant in the surface of many protozoan parasites. However, in the particular case of Plasmodium species, previous works show that glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor modifications, and to an unknown extent, a severely truncated N-glycosylation are the only glycosylation processes taking place in the parasite. Nevertheless, a detailed analysis of the parasite genome and the recent identification of the sugar nucleotide precursors biosynthesized by Plasmodium falciparum support a picture in which several overlooked, albeit not very prominent glycosylations may be occurring during the parasite life cycle. In this work, the authors review recent developments in the characterization of the biosynthesis of glycosylation precursors in the parasite, focusing on the outline of the possible fates of these precursors.
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. marta.cova@isglobal.org.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cova
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, Edificio Egas Moniz, 1649-028, Lisbon, Portugal. j.rodrigues@medicina.ulisboa.pt.
authors.forename: João A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Sciences Research Complex, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9ST, UK. tks1@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Terry K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. luis.izquierdo@isglobal.org.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Izquierdo
mesh_terms: D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D006031:Glycosylation; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*