Journal
CELL
Volume 171, Issue 7, Pages 1532-+Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.10.020
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Funding
- Wellcome Trust [172862, 172805]
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund
- NIH [GM086258, R01RHL139337]
- Centre Award [104111]
- Swiss National Science Foundation [31003A_163258, BSCGI0_157729, P300PA_160975, P2BEP3_165396]
- NIH NRSA fellowship from the NIGMS [F32 GM116205]
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [P2BEP3_165396, 31003A_163258, P300PA_160975] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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Transmission represents a population bottleneck in the Plasmodium life cycle and a key intervention target of ongoing efforts to eradicate malaria. Sexual differentiation is essential for this process, as only sexual parasites, called gameto-cytes, are infective to the mosquito vector. Gametocyte production rates vary depending on environmental conditions, but external stimuli remain obscure. Here, we show that the host-derived lipid lysophosphatidylcholine (LysoPC) controls P. falciparum cell fate by repressing parasite sexual differentiation. We demonstrate that exogenous LysoPC drives biosynthesis of the essential membrane component phosphatidylcholine. LysoPC restriction induces a compensatory response, linking parasite metabolism to the activation of sexual-stage-specific transcription and gametocyte formation. Our results reveal that malaria parasites can sense and process host-derived physiological signals to regulate differentiation. These data close a critical knowledge gap in parasite biology and introduce a major component of the sexual differentiation pathway in Plasmodium that may provide new approaches for blocking malaria transmission.
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