Malaria is a disease caused by an intraerythrocytic protozoan parasite of the genus Plasmodium , which is transmitted by dipterans and affects vertebrates such as reptiles, birds, and mammals, including humans (see supplementary Table I). By contrast with other Apicomplexa parasite species that can infect a broad range of metazoans, Plasmodium species have a narrow specifi city range regarding insect and vertebrate hosts ( 1 ). Plasmodium falciparum is, thus, responsible for the most severe form of malaria in humans only. Other species, such as P. vivax , two P. ovale subspecies ( 2 ), P. malariae , and, according to recent reports, P. knowlesi ( 3 ) cause less complicated forms of human malaria. The host specifi city of P. knowlesi is not restricted to humans because it also infects monkeys.The evolutionary history of Plasmodium species has been highly debated, especially the position of P. falciparum , either grouped with avian parasites ( 4, 5 ) or placed as a sister species to other mammalian parasites including rodent parasites. The fi ndings of most recent analyses using three classes of rare genomic changes and mitochondrial RNA genes unambiguously support a mammalian clade and no Abstract Malaria, a disease affecting humans and other animals, is caused by a protist of the genus Plasmodium . At the intraerythrocytic stage, the parasite synthesizes a high amount of phospholipids through a bewildering number of pathways. In the human Plasmodium falciparum species, a plant-like pathway that relies on serine decarboxylase and phosphoethanolamine N-methyltransferase activities diverts host serine to provide additional phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine to the parasite. This feature of parasitic dependence toward its host was investigated in other Plasmodium species. In silico analyses led to the identifi cation of phosphoethanolamine N-methyltransferase gene orthologs in primate and bird parasite genomes. However, the gene was not detected in the rodent P. berghei , P. yoelii , and P. chabaudi species. Biochemical experiments with labeled choline, ethanolamine, and serine showed marked differences in biosynthetic pathways when comparing rodent P. berghei and P. vinckei , and human P. falciparum species. Notably, in both rodent parasites, ethanolamine and serine were not signifi cantly incorporated into phosphatidylcholine, indicating the absence of phosphoethanolamine N-methyltransferase activity. To our knowledge, this is the fi rst study to highlight a crucial difference in phospholipid metabolism between Plasmodium species. The fi ndings should facilitate efforts to develop more rational approaches to identify and evaluate new targets for antimalarial therapy.