Malaria parasites obtain amino acids primarily from the host, but possess a gene encoding a putative asparagine synthetase. Here, the authors show that this enzyme is functional and that asparagine is crucial for the development of the parasite’s sexual stages in mosquitoes and liver stages in mice.
- Viswanathan A. Nagaraj
- Dhanunjay Mukhi
- Govindarajan Padmanaban