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Malaria

Protein-export pathway illuminated

Nature volume 511, pages 541–542 (2014)Cite this article

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Two studies provide evidence that the protein complex PTEX is needed for export of malaria-parasite proteins into the cytoplasm of infected cells, and that such export is essential for parasite survival. See Letters p.587 & p.592

Malaria parasites export hundreds of proteins into the red blood cells that they infect. These proteins increase nutrient uptake from blood plasma, facilitate adhesion of the infected cell to endothelial cells in blood vessels and markedly remodel the red blood cell for the parasite's benefit. A parasite protein complex called Plasmodium translocon of exported proteins (PTEX) has been proposed to traffic these proteins across the membrane of the cellular vacuole that separates the parasite from the cytoplasm of the infected cell1. In two papers in this issue, Beck et al.2 (page 592) and Elsworth et al.3 (page 587) definitively show protein transport through PTEX.

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Figure 1: Transport of parasite proteins into the host red blood cell.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sanjay A. Desai and Louis H. Miller are in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland 20852, USA.,

    Sanjay A. Desai & Louis H. Miller

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  1. Sanjay A. Desai
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  2. Louis H. Miller
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Correspondence to Sanjay A. Desai or Louis H. Miller.

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Desai, S., Miller, L. Protein-export pathway illuminated. Nature 511, 541–542 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13646

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