Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor George K. Christophides

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences

Professor of Infectious Diseases & Immunity
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5342g.christophides

 
 
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Location

 

6165Sir Alexander Fleming BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Ukegbu:2017:10.1038/s41598-017-05917-6,
author = {Ukegbu, CV and Giogalli, M and Yassine, H and Luis, Ramirez J and Taxiarchi, C and Barillas-Mury, C and Christophides, GK},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-05917-6},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
title = {Plasmodium berghei P47 is essential for ookinete protection from the Anopheles gambiae complement-like response},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05917-6},
volume = {7},
year = {2017}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease affecting millions of people every year. The rodent parasite Plasmodium berghei has served as a model for human malaria transmission studies and played a pivotal role in dissecting the mosquito immune response against infection. The 6-cysteine protein P47, known to be important for P. berghei female gamete fertility, is shown to serve a different function in Plasmodium falciparum, protecting ookinetes from the mosquito immune response. Here, we investigate the function of P. berghei P47 in Anopheles gambiae mosquito infections. We show that P47 is expressed on the surface of both female gametocytes and ookinetes where it serves distinct functions in promoting gametocyte-to-ookinete development and protecting ookinetes from the mosquito complement-like response, respectively. The latter function is essential, as ookinetes lacking P47 are targeted for killing while traversing the mosquito midgut cells and eliminated upon exposure to hemolymph proteins of the complement-like system. Silencing key factors of the complement-like system restores oocyst development and disease transmission to rodent hosts. Our data establish a dual role of P. berghei P47 in vivo and reinforce the use of this parasite to study the impact of the mosquito immune response on human malaria transmission.
AU  - Ukegbu,CV
AU  - Giogalli,M
AU  - Yassine,H
AU  - Luis,Ramirez J
AU  - Taxiarchi,C
AU  - Barillas-Mury,C
AU  - Christophides,GK
DO  - 10.1038/s41598-017-05917-6
PY  - 2017///
SN  - 2045-2322
TI  - Plasmodium berghei P47 is essential for ookinete protection from the Anopheles gambiae complement-like response
T2  - Scientific Reports
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05917-6
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/49009
VL  - 7
ER  -
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