Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Parasite physiology: No longer lost in translation

The antimalarial mefloquine has been used in the clinic for decades, yet its mode of action has remained elusive. Now, a study reports that the enantiomer (+)-mefloquine binds to the cytosolic ribosome of the major malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Mefloquine binding to the P. falciparum cytoplasmic ribosome, Pf80S.

References

  1. Trenholme, C. M. et al. Science 190, 792–794 (1975).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Lee, S. J., Ter Kuile, F. O., Price, R. N., Luxemburger, C. & Nosten, F. PLoS ONE 12, e0168780 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Price, R. N. et al. Lancet 364, 438–447 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Reed, M. B., Saliba, K. J., Caruana, S. R., Kirk, K. & Cowman, A. F. Nature 403, 906–909 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Wong, W. et al. Nat. Microbiol. 2, 17031 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Tansley, R. et al. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 83, 1195–1201 (2010).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Gillespie, R. J. et al. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 18, 2916–2919 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Janowsky, A. et al. Psychopharmacology 231, 2771–2783 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Allison, D. W. et al. Synapse 65, 804–813 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Sun, M. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 43, 10515–10524 (2015).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeremy Burrows.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Burrows, J. Parasite physiology: No longer lost in translation. Nat Microbiol 2, 17055 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.55

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.55

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research