Towards genetic interrogation of putative amino acid transporters in plasmodium falciparum parasites

Abstract

Although malaria is a curable disease, the causative agent, the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, continuously develops antimalarial resistance, making current chemotherapeutics ineffective. The parasites are amino acid auxotrophs, and amino acids are mostly obtained from haemoglobin digestion, with additional amino acids, such as isoleucine and methionine, obtained from the extracellular environment. The uptake of these extracellular amino acids requires transport across multiple membranes surrounding the parasite. Two putative amino acid transporters from the neurotransmitter:sodium symporter family are constitutively expressed in P. falciparum asexual parasites and gametocytes, and we hypothesize that these are essential for asexual proliferation and sexual differentiation in P. falciparum parasites. Here, our objective was to develop genetically modified parasite lines to investigate the essentiality of these two putative amino acid transporters.