Last Updated: 14/08/2025
Mechanisms of egress in P. falciparum: identification of new therapeutic targets
Objectives
The objectives of this study are to:
- utilize conditional knockout strains for PKG and CDPK5 kinases, co-expressing a Nano-Luciferase (Nluc) reporter, to elucidate the role of these kinases in parasite egress from infected red blood cells and to identify other molecules involved in this process;
- evaluate the effect of novel antiparasitic compounds on essential parasite cellular functions, including transport protein activity, host cell invasion, and egress;
- develop and refine methodologies for conditional gene expression in Plasmodium parasites; and
- optimize the use of bioluminescent transgenic parasite lines for target identification of new antimalarial drugs.
Malaria is a public health problem in Brazil and worldwide. The sequencing of the genomes of various species of its causative agent, a protozoan of the genus Plasmodium, followed by large-scale studies such as transcriptomes and proteomes, has allowed a greater understanding of the parasite’s biology and its interaction with the host. In parallel, thousands of compounds have been tested, some being found a significant effect on the development and / or parasite proliferation in in vitro cell cultures. The reverse genetics has allowed to determine which genes encode proteins essential to certain stages of the parasite life cycle and eventually understand its function. Complementarily, strains of transgenic parasites can be used to identify compounds with antiparasitic activity and possibly provide clues about their targets.
Aug 2016 — Jul 2021
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