Transport of amino acids and nucleic acid precursors in malarial parasites

In vitro studies have shown that exogenously supplied amino acids are transferred into the malaria-infected cell, where they are incorporated into proteins. Most amino acids appear to enter the cell by facilitated or simple diffusion; however, the high distribution ratios seen in Plasmodium knowlesi-infected cells are difficult to explain on this basis. The changes (leakiness) observed in amino acid transport in P. lophurae infected cells are probably the result of ATP depletion in the host cell as well as the elaboration of plasmodial substances. Depletion of isoleucine, methionine, and cysteine from the medium strikingly depresses the in vitro growth of P. knowlesi. The degree of amino acid incorporation into the malaria-infected cell is not correlated with the amount of a particular amino acid in the host cell haemoglobin, the decline of that amino acid in the plasma of infected animals, or the ratio of free amino acids of the erythrocyte to those of the plasma. In erythrocyte-"free" P. lophurae, carrier-mediated transport is apparently limited to a small number of amino acids; all others seem to enter by simple diffusion.Malaria-infected erythrocytes transport exogenously supplied purines at substantially higher rates than uninfected red cells. The preferred purines are adenosine, hypoxanthine, and inosine. The only pyrimidine incorporated is orotic acid. Thymidine, cytidine, and uridine do not readily enter the red cell, and incorporation does not take place because the parasites lack the appropriate enzyme for conversion to nucleotides. Erythrocyte-"free" P. berghei and P. lophurae take up purines and orotic acid. It has been suggested that in vivo the preferred purines are hypoxanthine and inosine, and that the transport locus for erythrocytes is specific for 6-oxopurines. Similar results of purine incorporation are reported for the insect stages of P. cynomolgi and P. berghei, although transport studies have not been carried out.