Ensuring transmission through dynamic host environments: host–pathogen interactions in Plasmodium sexual development

Dantzler, Kathleen W.; Ravel, Deepali; Brancucci, Nicolas M. B.; Marti, Matthias

doi:10.1016/j.mib.2015.03.005

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Sterile insect release is also a route to limiting the vector population and so restricting disease spread118,119. Eukaryotic microorganisms have also, like some bacterial pathogens, been found to show cooperative and social behaviours to optimize their establishment and transmission in their hosts or vectors120,121. These social responses can control parasite density or the development of transmission stages122–124, such that blocking or mimicking signals for communication or their transduction pathways provides new routes for limiting the impact of the pathogens using strategies that might be less susceptible to the emergence of resistance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drug resistance in eukaryotic microorganisms

et al. 2016

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Eukaryotic microbial pathogens are major contributors to illness and death globally. Although much of their impact can be controlled by drug therapy as with prokaryotic microorganisms, the emergence of drug resistance has threatened these treatment efforts. Here, we discuss the challenges posed by eukaryotic microbial pathogens and how these are similar to, or differ from, the challenges of prokaryotic antibiotic resistance. The therapies used for several major eukaryotic microorganisms are then detailed, and the mechanisms that they have evolved to overcome these therapies are described. The rapid emergence of resistance and the restricted pipeline of new drug therapies pose considerable risks to global health and are particularly acute in the developing world. Nonetheless, we detail how the integration of new technology, biological understanding, epidemiology and evolutionary analysis can help sustain existing therapies, anticipate the emergence of resistance or optimize the deployment of new therapies.The identification and use of antibiotics are some of the great medical achievements of the twentieth century, saving count-less lives by controlling the risk of infection from contagion, after injury, surgery or in immunosuppressed individuals. However, in only 80 years since the introduction of penicillin, resistance to a broad range of antibiotic drugs has become widespread, with the compounded risk from multidrug-resistant bacterial infections severely limiting treatment options. This has created justified concern and global attention, not only * keith.matthews@ed.ac.uk. Author contributionsAll authors contributed equally to the preparation of the manuscript. Additional informationReprints and permissions information is available online at www.nature.com/reprints. Correspondence should be addressed to K.R.M. Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing financial interests. Europe PMC Funders GroupAuthor Manuscript Nat Microbiol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 January 05.Published in final edited form as: Nat Microbiol. ; 1(7): 16092. doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.92. Europe PMC Funders Author ManuscriptsEurope PMC Funders Author Manuscripts in the medical community but also at government level, in the media and the general public1.While predominantly applied to control prokaryotic microbial infections, the threat of disease from eukaryotic microorganisms has also been contained by therapeutic drugspreventing or controlling disease caused by eukaryotic parasites and fungi in both a human and animal health setting. These represent some of the most important disease-causing agents (Table 1), particularly in the tropics, where the distribution of a pathogen is frequently linked to the distribution of the arthropods that act as disease vectors. Such vector-borne parasites include malaria (Plasmodium spp.) and kineto-plastid parasites (Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas disease; Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense, which cause human African trypanosomiasis (HAT); and 17 Le...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drug resistance in eukaryotic microorganisms

et al. 2016

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“…Gaining a better understanding of the molecular pathways that trigger asexual parasites to commit to sexual development and of the early events in the commitment process is fundamental to the development of intervention strategies that prevent malaria transmission and to achieving the goal of malaria eradication 14 . Although gametocytogenesis has been the subject of several comprehensive reviews [15][16][17][18][19][20] , the molecular mechanisms governing commitment have been elusive until recently. In this Review, we focus primarily on recent studies that have shed light on the role of transcriptional and epigenetic regulation during gametocyte commitment, and we contextualize these findings with regard to the existing body of work in this exciting area of research.…”

Section: Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenasementioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual development in Plasmodium parasites: knowing when it's time to commit

2015

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Malaria is a devastating infectious disease that is caused by blood-borne apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. These pathogens have a complex lifecycle, which includes development in the anopheline mosquito vector and in the liver and red blood cells of mammalian hosts, a process which takes days to weeks, depending on the Plasmodium species. Productive transmission between the mammalian host and the mosquito requires transitioning between asexual and sexual forms of the parasite. Blood- stage parasites replicate cyclically and are mostly asexual, although a small fraction of these convert into male and female sexual forms (gametocytes) in each reproductive cycle. Despite many years of investigation, the molecular processes that elicit sexual differentiation have remained largely unknown. In this Review, we highlight several important recent discoveries that have identified epigenetic factors and specific transcriptional regulators of gametocyte commitment and development, providing crucial insights into this obligate cellular differentiation process.

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“…remodeling and host microenvironments in terms of P. falciparum sequestration in bone marrow and gametocyte differentiation [2,3] and hence these aspects are not covered in this review. Two additional reviews detailing the cell biology of malaria infection in the mosquito are also recommended [4,5], while other major factors involved in malaria gametocytogenesis are expertly reviewed in [6].…”

Section: Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%