The most deadly malaria parasite has protein ‘wiring’ that differs markedly from the cellular circuitry of other higher organisms, a finding which could lead to the development of antimalarial drugs that exploit that differenceResearchers at UCSD have discovered that the single-cell parasite responsible for an estimated 1 million deaths per year worldwide from malaria has protein “wiring” that differs markedly from the cellular circuitry of other higher organisms, a finding which could lead to the development of antimalarial drugs that exploit that difference.The scientists will report in the Nov. 3 issue of Nature a comparison of newly discovered protein-interactions in Plasmodium falciparum with protein interactions reported earlier in four other well studied model organisms -- yeast, a nematode worm, the fruit fly, and a bacterium that causes digestive-tract ulcers in humans. The authors of the study, Trey Ideker, a professor of bioengineering at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering, and two graduate students, Silpa Suthram and Taylor Sittler, said the malaria parasite’s protein interactions “set it apart from other species.”
