Fatty molecule in human blood controls malaria parasites’ decision to leap to mosquitoes

Depletion of a fatty molecule in human blood propels malaria parasites to stop replicating and causing illness in people and instead to jump ship to mosquitoes to continue the transmission cycle, according to a new study by an international research team co-led by the University of Glasgow. The discovery, published online in Cell, answers a longstanding question about what controls this critical step in the life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum , the parasite responsible for about half a million malaria deaths worldwide each year. It could also open doors to new strategies for malaria control and treatment. The key molecule the researchers identified has the catchy name of lysophosphatidylcholine, or LPC for short. It appears to be a building block the parasites use to construct new cell membranes when they divide, the team found. "When LPC is plentiful, the parasites happily reproduce in humans," said J.P. Gerdt, a research fellow in the lab of Jon Clardy at Harvard Medical School and co-first author of the study. "When LPC drops, the parasites can't multiply anymore and commit to a different pathway.