Plasmodium sex determination and transmission to mosquitoes

Authors :: Paul T. Brey
Vincent Robert
Richard Paul
Biochimie et Biologie Moléculaire des Insectes
Institut Pasteur [Paris] (IP)
Paludologie afrotropicale
Institut de recherche pour le développement [Dakar, Sénégal] (IRD Hann Maristes)
Institut Pasteur de Madagascar
Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)
R.E.L.P. and P.T.B. were supported by Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, and V.R. by IRD.
Source :: Trends in Parasitology, Trends in Parasitology, 2002, 18 (1), pp.32-38. ⟨10.1016/s1471-4922(01)02122-5⟩
Publication Year :: 2002
Publisher :: Elsevier BV, 2002.
Abstract: International audience; In order to be transmitted by their mosquito vector, malaria parasites undergo sexual reproduction, which occurs between specialized male and female parasites (gametes) within the blood meal in the mosquito. Nothing was known about how Plasmodium determines the sex of its gametocytes (gamete precursors), which are produced in the vertebrate host. Recently, erythropoietin, the vertebrate hormone controlling erythropoiesis in response to anaemia, was implicated in Plasmodium sex determination in animal models of malaria. This review examines the available information and addresses the relevance of such a sex determining mechanism for Plasmodium falciparum transmission to mosquitoes, with special reference to low gametocytaemias.

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