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PARASITE BIOLOGY

Malaria parasite beats the heat

Nature Microbiology volume 6, pages 1105–1107 (2021)Cite this article

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The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum survives fever during human infection by using a transcription factor to regulate its heat-shock response.

Malaria kills more than 400,000 individuals each year in tropical regions of the globe. When parasites from the Plasmodium genus infect red blood cells, malaria symptoms are produced, including cyclic fever that often surpasses 40 °C1. Fever is caused by a potent host inflammatory response that is triggered by the rupture of schizont-infected red blood cells and the extracellular release of their contents during exponential intraerythrocytic parasite growth2. How malaria parasites are able to withstand exposure to fever has been a long-standing question. In this issue of Nature Microbiology, Tintó-Font et al. report3 the mechanism underlying the protective heat-shock response in Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest human malaria species and the causative agent of malignant tertian fever (occurring every ~48 h).

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Fig. 1: The ApiAP2 transcription factor PfAP2-HS drives activation of essential heat-shock responses in P. falciparum–infected red blood cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Vandana Thathy & David A. Fidock

  2. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    David A. Fidock

Authors
  1. Vandana Thathy
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  2. David A. Fidock
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Correspondence to David A. Fidock.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Thathy, V., Fidock, D.A. Malaria parasite beats the heat. Nat Microbiol 6, 1105–1107 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-021-00953-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-021-00953-5

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