SPHINGOLIPID SYNTHESIS AND MEMBRANE FORMATION BY PLASMODIUM

Plasmodium falciparum is a protozoan Parasite that causes the most vir ulent of human malarias. The asexual blood-stage organism invades and multiplies in a vacuole in the mature erythrocyte. During intravacuola r growth, if induces the formation of a novel network of tubovesicular membranes, the TVM, that is not present in uninfected red blood cells . Recent data suggest that sphingomyelin biosynthesis by the parasite is an essential requirement for the assembly of the TVM. Furthermore, sphingolipid synthesis as well as the formation and function of the TV M may provide new targets for chemotherapy against malaria parasites.