Protein signature of sexually committed malaria parasites

Sexual commitment is a crucial step in the life cycle of the human malaria parasite that allows for the formation of transmissible gametocyte stages. The process of sexual commitment is influenced by various factors and is also marked by the timely expression of a minimal set of molecular markers at the schizont stage. Prime among them is AP2-G, a transcription factor belonging to the apitella AP2 family of TFs that drives sexual commitment. Apart from AP2-G, one uniquely expressed protein in sexually committed schizonts is MSRP1. Here, taking advantage of the two sexual commitment protein markers we established transgenic reporter parasite lines which allowed us to isolate sexually committed schizonts. We have performed whole cell proteomics and mapped the first comprehensive proteome of sexually committed schizonts in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. We have identified additional proteins that are relatively highly expressed in sexually committed schizonts