Plasmodium berghei

Plasmodium berghei is a unicellular parasite (protozoan) and is one of the many species of malaria parasites that infect mammals other than humans.

P. berghei is one of the four Plasmodium species that have been described in African murine rodents.

These are not of direct practical concern to man or his domestic animals. The interest of these parasites is that they are practical model organisms in the laboratory for the experimental study of human malaria.

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Description

This species was first described by Vincke and Lips in 1948 in the Belgian Congo. ^[1]

Geographical occurrence

P. berghei is found in the forests of Central Africa, where its natural cyclic hosts are the thicket rat (Grammomys surdaster) and the mosquito (Anopheles dureni).

Research

Rodent malaria parasites are used in many research institutes for studies aiming at the development of new drugs or a vaccine against malaria.

In the laboratory the natural hosts have been replaced by a number of commercially available laboratory mouse strains, and the mosquito Anopheles stephensi, which is comparatively easily reared and maintained under defined laboratory conditions

Rodent parasites are recognised as valuable model organisms for the investigation of human malaria because they are similar in most essential aspects of morphology, physiology and life cycle and the manipulation of the complete lifecycle of these parasites, including mosquito infections, is simple and safe.

Like all malaria parasites of mammals, including the four human malaria parasites, P. berghei is transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes and it infects the liver after being injected into the bloodstream by a bite of an infected female mosquito. After a short period (a few days) of development and multiplication, these parasites leave the liver and invade erythrocytes (red blood cells). The multiplication of the parasite in the blood causes the pathology such as anaemia and damage of essential organs of the host such as lungs, liver, spleen. P. berghei infections may also affect the brain and can be the cause of cerebral complications in laboratory mice. These symptoms are to a certain degree comparable to symptoms of cerebral malaria in patients infected with the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

The complete genome of P. berghei has been sequenced and it shows a high similarity, both in structure and gene content, with the genome of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

P. berghei can be genetically manipulated in the laboratory using standard genetic engineering technologies. Consequently this parasite is often used for the analysis of the function of malaria genes using the technology of genetic modification.

A number of genetically modified P. berghei lines have been generated which express fluorescent reporter proteins such as Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) or bioluminescent reporters such as Luciferase. These transgenic parasites are important tools to study and visualize the parasites in the living host

The use of this model malaria parasite has provided biologists and medical researchers with more insight into:

- The interactions of malaria parasites with the immune system.

- The process of infection of the liver by malaria parasites.

- The cause of severe pathology, such as cerebral complications in malaria patients.

- The infection of the mosquito and transmission of the parasite by the mosquito.

Moreover, P. berghei is used in research programs for development and screening of anti-malarial drugs and for the development of an effective vaccine against malaria.

References

Images of rodent malaria parasites

• www.culleton.org/rodent.html

Information about the genome and genes of P. berghei

• www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/P_berghei/
• www.genedb.org/genedb/pberghei/index.jsp
• www.plasmodb.org/plasmo/home.jsp
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/Malaria/Rodent/index.html