Finding Out What Makes P. Falciparum Tick

NIH and Notre Dame researchers have used gene expression analysis to look at changes associated with chloroquine resistance in Plasmodium falciparum, a parasite that causes malaria in humans. In this PLoS ONE study, they looked at three different clones that had unique mutations in the PfCRT gene, a gene that confers resistance to chloroquine, in parasites grown with and without chloroquine. In the 35 genes where they found altered expression levels, most of the up-regulated genes were involved in invasion, cell growth and development, signal transduction, and transport activities.