Malaria's secret to surviving in the blood uncovered - EurekAlert
New research from the Francis Crick Institute has found how the malaria parasite protects itself from toxic compounds in red blood cells. Malaria causes around 400,000 deaths globally each year. It is caused by Plasmodium parasites which are transmitted by mosquitoes and grow in a person's blood stream. In their study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA , Crick researchers together with colleagues from Germany and Switzerland identified a protein used by the malaria parasite to protect itself from a toxic compound in red blood cells. They hope this could lead to the development of drugs that block this process. When the malaria parasite enters a red blood cell it digests haemoglobin, leading to the release of a compound called haem, which is toxic to the parasite if it is left loose inside the cell. The researchers found that to overcome this, the parasite uses a protein, called PV5, to control a process where free haem molecules are joined toget