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infecting a red blood cell
Image courtesy of St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital
Research published in PNAS helps explain how the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum undergoes the changes that enable transmission of the parasite from humans to mosquitoes.
Investigators determined how the parasite transforms its own structure and the structure of a host red blood cell so the parasite can hide from the body’s normal defenses and later re-enter the bloodstream for transmission via mosquito bite.
The team believes that, by understanding this process, it may be possible to inhibit the blood cell’s transformation.
“Once you understand the molecular mechanisms, it becomes easier to find drugs to target them,” said Sulin Zhang, PhD, of Pennsylvania State University in University Park.
Dr Zhang developed the computational methods used to understand the physical transformations in the infected red blood cells that allow them to avoid removal in the spleen and prepare for transmission to a mosquito host.
He and his colleagues knew that healthy red blood cells are able to squeeze through small slits in the spleen, but damaged and aging red blood cells cannot and are filtered out and removed from the circulation.
To avoid this fate, the sexual stage malaria parasite first makes the red blood cell rigid and hides out in deep tissue. Then, when the parasite is mature, the infected red blood cells become flexible and elastic, ready to be picked up by a mosquito for disease transmission.
To understand these changes, the investigators prepared samples of parasites at each stage and studied the changing microstructure using atomic force microscopy.
This revealed changes in the organization of a meshwork of tiny spring-like proteins in the blood cell membrane. When the parasite is ready for transmission, it reverses the structural changes.
The team then turned to Dr Zhang, who developed a model to explain how subtle changes to the molecular structure of the spring-like proteins were sufficient to make the red blood cell either rigid or flexible.
The investigators are continuing to use Dr Zhang’s model to simulate the overall shapes and the flow dynamics of infected red blood cells in the bloodstream, providing information that could aid researchers looking to inhibit the malaria parasite’s spread. 
infecting a red blood cell
Image courtesy of St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital
Research published in PNAS helps explain how the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum undergoes the changes that enable transmission of the parasite from humans to mosquitoes.
Investigators determined how the parasite transforms its own structure and the structure of a host red blood cell so the parasite can hide from the body’s normal defenses and later re-enter the bloodstream for transmission via mosquito bite.
The team believes that, by understanding this process, it may be possible to inhibit the blood cell’s transformation.
“Once you understand the molecular mechanisms, it becomes easier to find drugs to target them,” said Sulin Zhang, PhD, of Pennsylvania State University in University Park.
Dr Zhang developed the computational methods used to understand the physical transformations in the infected red blood cells that allow them to avoid removal in the spleen and prepare for transmission to a mosquito host.
He and his colleagues knew that healthy red blood cells are able to squeeze through small slits in the spleen, but damaged and aging red blood cells cannot and are filtered out and removed from the circulation.
To avoid this fate, the sexual stage malaria parasite first makes the red blood cell rigid and hides out in deep tissue. Then, when the parasite is mature, the infected red blood cells become flexible and elastic, ready to be picked up by a mosquito for disease transmission.
To understand these changes, the investigators prepared samples of parasites at each stage and studied the changing microstructure using atomic force microscopy.
This revealed changes in the organization of a meshwork of tiny spring-like proteins in the blood cell membrane. When the parasite is ready for transmission, it reverses the structural changes.
The team then turned to Dr Zhang, who developed a model to explain how subtle changes to the molecular structure of the spring-like proteins were sufficient to make the red blood cell either rigid or flexible.
The investigators are continuing to use Dr Zhang’s model to simulate the overall shapes and the flow dynamics of infected red blood cells in the bloodstream, providing information that could aid researchers looking to inhibit the malaria parasite’s spread.
infecting a red blood cell
Image courtesy of St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital
Research published in PNAS helps explain how the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum undergoes the changes that enable transmission of the parasite from humans to mosquitoes.
Investigators determined how the parasite transforms its own structure and the structure of a host red blood cell so the parasite can hide from the body’s normal defenses and later re-enter the bloodstream for transmission via mosquito bite.
The team believes that, by understanding this process, it may be possible to inhibit the blood cell’s transformation.
“Once you understand the molecular mechanisms, it becomes easier to find drugs to target them,” said Sulin Zhang, PhD, of Pennsylvania State University in University Park.
Dr Zhang developed the computational methods used to understand the physical transformations in the infected red blood cells that allow them to avoid removal in the spleen and prepare for transmission to a mosquito host.
He and his colleagues knew that healthy red blood cells are able to squeeze through small slits in the spleen, but damaged and aging red blood cells cannot and are filtered out and removed from the circulation.
To avoid this fate, the sexual stage malaria parasite first makes the red blood cell rigid and hides out in deep tissue. Then, when the parasite is mature, the infected red blood cells become flexible and elastic, ready to be picked up by a mosquito for disease transmission.
To understand these changes, the investigators prepared samples of parasites at each stage and studied the changing microstructure using atomic force microscopy.
This revealed changes in the organization of a meshwork of tiny spring-like proteins in the blood cell membrane. When the parasite is ready for transmission, it reverses the structural changes.
The team then turned to Dr Zhang, who developed a model to explain how subtle changes to the molecular structure of the spring-like proteins were sufficient to make the red blood cell either rigid or flexible.
The investigators are continuing to use Dr Zhang’s model to simulate the overall shapes and the flow dynamics of infected red blood cells in the bloodstream, providing information that could aid researchers looking to inhibit the malaria parasite’s spread.