author(s)
Rakhi Dhawan, Ashwani Kumar

abstract
The different morphological stages of Plasmodium falciparum show different physiological and biochemical characteristic. Lately there has been a renewed interest in the proteome of the parasite leading to considerable body of work towards identification of stage and sex specific proteins.rnIn 2002 a whole chromosome shotgun sequencing of P falciparum clone 3D7 was completed. The chromosomes of P falciparum show gene clustering with coregulated gene groups and proteins. The Parasitophorous Vacuole Membrane and Gametocyte Exported Proteins are seen to be over expressed during early phase of sexual differentiation. The gametocyte proteome is in general specific to differing functionalities of the sexes. All ribosomal proteins are highly expressed in females. The sensitivity of this stage to antimalarials attacking respiration like primaquine and artemisinin based drugs is pronounced. Research on on NF54 isolate of P falciparum has revealed that of the total of 1289 proteins found by nano LC MS/MS, 315 were solely in gametocytes. This is a large percentage of total and highlights the significance of dwelling deeper into the protein-protein interactions taking place at different stages of gametocyte development.