Plasmepsin IX (PMIX) is an essential protein for Plasmodium falciparum and the target of first-in-class antimalarial drug development. PMIX is an aspartyl protease that processes parasite proteins involved in invasion of host cells (Pino, Science 2017 358:522; Nasamu, Science 2017 358:518; Favuzza, Cell Host Microbe 2020 27:642).
We aim to decipher the function of PMIX in sporozoite and liver stages. For this, we have genetically modified a P. falciparum parasite line enabling conditional excision of the PMIX locus when infecting mosquitoes (Lacroix, Nat Protoc 2011 6:1412; McConville, PNAS 2024 121).
This study will assess the effects of genetic disruption of PMIX in sporozoites while also characterising in vitro hepatocyte infectivity and in vivo using in humanised mice with chimeric human livers.”
