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Parasite biology is the study of all biological aspects of parasites and parasitic diseases, including the structure, growth, development, genetics, ecology and evolution of these organisms.
Actin is critical to the survival of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. In this study, Hvorecny and Sladewski et al. show that T. gondii actin forms intrinsically dynamic filaments in vitro due to differences in assembly contacts in the D-loop.
Using unique single mosquito data the authors revisit the core quantitative relationships between sequential stages of Plasmodium parasites in their vector host. Their findings demonstrate the importance of mosquito parasite burden in onward transmission success.
The authors identified a series of cytoskeletal proteins involved in the discharge of invasion-related organelles in Toxoplasma gondii. They successfully delineated their functions through the utilization of expansion and cryo-electron microscopy.
This study reports the identification of an inhibitor of a Toxoplasma gondii myosin motor protein that could be exploited to prevent or treat infections with T. gondii and other apicomplexan parasites.
In this study, Brown et al. show that nutrient deprivation increases Plasmodium falciparum survival and tolerance to the antimalarial drug artemisinin.
A recent study finds that upregulation of nutrient-permeable channels in the parasitophorous vacuole membrane increases the acquisition of amino acids by artemisinin-resistant parasites to compensate for fitness costs.