Several hundred malaria parasite proteins are exported beyond an encasing vacuole and into the cytosol of the host erythrocyte, a process that is central to the virulence and viability of the causative Plasmodium species. The trafficking machinery responsible for this export is unknown. Here we identify in Plasmodium falciparum a translocon of exported proteins (PTEX), which is located in the vacuole membrane. The PTEX complex is ATP-powered, and comprises heat shock protein 101 (HSP101; a ClpA/B-like ATPase from the AAA+ superfamily, of a type commonly associated with protein translocons), a novel protein termed PTEX150 and a known parasite protein, exported protein 2 (EXP2). EXP2 is the potential channel, as it is the membrane-associated component of the core PTEX complex. Two other proteins, a new protein PTEX88 and thioredoxin 2 (TRX2), were also identified as PTEX components. As a common portal for numerous crucial processes, this translocon offers a new avenue for therapeutic intervention.

Malaria could be developing resistance to the most effective type of drug, potentially threatening the lives of millions ... Tests have picked up disturbing signs that treatments based on artemisinin are becoming less effective at combating the disease, which affects 250 million people in the world a year, causing a million deaths. Experts have warned that the trend could signal a global health catastrophe.

In a small community in Western Cambodia, scientists are puzzling over why malaria parasites seem to be developing a resistance to drugs - and fearing the consequences. Ten days ago, Chhem Bunchhin, a teacher in Battambang Province, became ill with chills, fever, headache and vomiting. At a nearby health centre he was treated with drugs considered a "silver bullet" in the battle against falciparum malaria. This treatment with artesunate drugs was part of a clinical study being carried out by the US Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS). In the past, artesunates have always cleared malaria parasites from the blood in two or three days. But after four days of monitored treatment, Chhem Bunchhin was still testing positive for parasites.

International scientists say they have found the first evidence of resistance to the world's most effective drug for treating malaria. They say the trend in western Cambodia has to be urgently contained because full-blown resistance would be a global health catastrophe. Drugs are taking longer to clear blood of malaria parasites than before. This is an early warning sign of emerging resistance to a disease which kills a million people every year. Until now the most effective drug cleared all malaria parasites from the blood within two or three days but in recent trials this took up to four or five days. The BBC's Jill McGivering, reporting from Cambodia, says it is unclear why the region has become a nursery for the resistance - but the local public health system is weak, and the use of anti-malaria drugs is not properly controlled.

P. vivax genome paper

News note on the genome sequence of P vivax and P. knowlesi (high GC Plasmodia)

Review of P. falciparum genome.

18S rRNA phylogeny of plasmodia

Review of plasmodium life-cycle

The Anopheles gambiae mosquito that transmits the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium has an intestinal bacterial flora, or microbiota, which comprises a variety of species. Elimination of this microbiota with antibiotic treatment will render the Anopheles mosquito more susceptible to Plasmodium infection. In this study we show that these bacteria can inhibit the infection of the mosquito with the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum through a mechanism that involves the mosquito's immune system. Our study suggests that the microbial flora of mosquitoes is stimulating a basal immune activity, which comprises several factors with known anti-Plasmodium activity. The same immune factors that are needed to control the mosquito's microbiota are also defending against the malaria parasite Plasmodium. This complex interplay among the mosquito's microbiota, the innate immune system, and the Plasmodium parasite may have significant implications for the transmission of malaria in the field where the bacterial exposure of mosquitoes may differ greatly between ecological niches.