A High Parasite Density Environment Induces Transcriptional Changes and Cell Death in Plasmodium falciparum Blood Stages

Transient regulation of Plasmodium numbers below the density that induces fever has been observed in chronic malaria infections in humans and this species transcending control cannot be explained by immunity alone. Using an in vitro system we have observed density dependent regulation of malaria parasitemia as a mechanism to possibly explain these in vivo observations. P. falciparum blood stages from a high but not low-density environment exhibited what appeared to be programmed changes during the late trophozoite and schizont stages of the intraerythrocytic cycle. No. Conditions: 3 (Experimental: HD and LD; Reference: U); Incubation Time: 2hrs; Biological Replicates Per Condition: 3