Fifty shades of iron: Unorthodox mechanisms of iron acquisition and utilization in blood-stage Plasmodium parasites

TL;DR

This review explores how Plasmodium parasites manage iron during blood-stage infection, revealing unconventional strategies that differ from those in model organisms.

Contribution

The paper synthesizes current knowledge and identifies key proteins and pathways in Plasmodium iron metabolism, highlighting gaps for future research.

Findings

Malaria parasites use unconventional mechanisms for iron acquisition and regulation during blood-stage infection.

The parasite lacks canonical iron transporters and regulatory circuits found in other organisms.

Key proteins and pathways involved in parasite iron homeostasis are identified, but many questions remain unanswered.

Abstract

Plasmodium falciparum parasites cause severe human malaria and depend on iron for essential metabolic processes during all phases of their complicated lifecycle, including when growing in human red blood cells (RBCs). Despite decades of study, the major pathways by which malaria parasites access, distribute, and regulate iron during blood-stage infection remain incompletely defined. The parasite genome lacks many canonical transporters, storage proteins, reductases, and regulatory circuits that are essential for maintaining iron homeostasis in model organisms. Emerging evidence suggests that blood-stage parasites employ unconventional strategies to maintain iron homeostasis. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge of how blood-stage P. falciparum manages iron, from initial uptake through cellular distribution to utilization, highlighting the key proteins and pathways that shape parasite iron metabolism. We also identify major unanswered questions that will guide future efforts to understand and therapeutically target this essential aspect of Plasmodium biology.

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