Protozoan parasites-Plasmodium that are the causative agents of malaria, have a complex life cycle that occur in the body of the mosquito Anopheles and humans. Accordingly, they should be able to penetrate into different cells of two very differing from other species — first in cells of the salivary glands of the mosquito, and from there into the skin and blood of a man, and then into the cells of his liver.
Which parasites manage to do all this, until recently, scientists did not know. Usually pathogens are of particular protein structures, by which they penetrate into the cells of the affected organism, however, these structures generally are only suitable for certain cells, much like a specific key to a specific lock. The parasites such structures are many, but a significant part still remains unexplored. Now, however, this gap in scientific knowledge was significantly less.
Scientists from Heidelberg University and the Harvard school of medicine found that one protein, called TRAP, in the first place its front end, is a universal “master key” that allows the parasites to penetrate through the skin and penetrate the cells of both man and mosquito.
But that’s not all that it was possible to detect in the course of the study. The loss of this front of the TRAP protein of Plasmodium has lost its penetrating power, however, they were able to recover the transplant of the relevant protein elements from other organisms, even those that were not struck by any insect nor human liver. Hence, scientists have concluded about the universality of TRAP protein as a universal tool to penetrate into cells. “TRAP, it seems, is not restricted within one type of universal key that can be used depending on the needs,” says one of the study’s authors Dr. Dennis Klug.
According to who led the research group of Professor Friedrich Fishnet, the discovery is unlikely to have an immediate therapeutic application, however, scientists believe that the understanding of the infectious mechanism and vulnerabilities of Plasmodium are able to help in the fight against malaria in General.
