Malaria parasites regulate secretion of exosomes carrying genomic DNA

Cells use extracellular vesicles to communicate, to coordinate social activities and, as in the case of pathogens, to export virulence effectors into host target cells. Previously, we showed that the lethal malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum can transfer episomal plasmids via vesicles produced at the ring-stage of the asexual life cycle. Here, we show these nanovesicles are exosomes and have determined their molecular content; nucleic acids, proteins and lipids. Remarkably, we found that exosomes deliver endogenous nuclear genes, parasite apicoplast and mitochondrial genomic DNA, and a large group of non-coding RNAs. Moreover, we found that P. falciparum parasites utilize exosomes to export their major virulence factor, PfEMP1, to the extracellular milieu in a time-dependent manner. Our findings provide an understanding of how the parasite can manipulate the host environment. This data underlies the sequencing of the genomic DNA content