Malaria Parasite Development in a Drosophila Model

Abstract

Malaria is a devastating public health menace, killing over one million people every year and infecting about half a billion. Here it is shown that the protozoan Plasmodium gallinaceum , a close relative of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum , can develop in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster . Plasmodium gallinaceum ookinetes injected into the fly developed into sporozoites infectious to the vertebrate host with similar kinetics as seen in the mosquito host Aedes aegypti . In the fly, a component of the insect's innate immune system, the macrophage, can destroy Plasmodia . These experiments suggest that Drosophila can be used as a surrogate mosquito for defining the genetic pathways involved in both vector competence and part of the parasite sexual cycle.