Study of calcium fluctuations in the Plasmodium falciparum cytoplasm using the transgenic parasite PfGCaMP3 as a tool

About 40% of the world’s population lives in endemic areas of malaria, a disease that affects mainly underdeveloped countries, such as African countries, or developing countries. The etiological agent of malaria is Plasmodium, a protozoan of the genus Apicomplexa, and the species P. falciparum is responsible for the most severe clinical picture of the disease. Transmission between vertebrate hosts occurs through Anopheles mosquitoes. The life cycle of Plasmodium alternates between two hosts: (i) mosquitoes, where sexual reproduction occurs; (ii) and vertebrates, where Plasmodium invades hepatocytes and erythrocytes, multiplying asexually. Studies carried out by the investigator’s laboratory reveal that calcium is the second messenger of the signaling pathway activated by melatonin and that this signal culminates in the synchrony of the parasites during the intra-erythrocytic phase. In the parasites of the Apicomplexa genus, calcium has an important role in the secretion of microneomes, in cell mobility, in the invasion and egress of the host cell and in cell differentiation. Several studies have shown evidence of the existence of two distinct calcium storage compartments in Plasmodium: endoplasmic reticulum and an acidic compartment. The group demonstrated that mitochondria participate in the sequestration of calcium when the parasite is exposed to high cytoplasmic concentrations of this ion. In the study of calcium dynamics in the malaria parasite, P. falciparum, the protocols used for loading with calcium markers are very invasive and do not allow the distinction between the host cell signal and the parasite.

Project details

Basic Science

Sep 2015 — Oct 2017

Brazil