Background

The Plasmodium parasite has a complex lifecycle that involves a number of developmental forms and depends on transmission of the protozoan pathogen between a vertebrate host and a vector. The figure below illustrates the complete lifecycle for the Plasmodium spp. that infect a human host. A full description of the parasite lifecycle is available from the Medicines for Malaria Venture website.

	LEFT: The image summarises overview of the parasite lifecycle, with timings for Plasmodium falciparum. Click on the image to see more detail. The original PDF can be found at the MMV website BELOW: Two short animated videos explaining both the human stages (left) and mosquito stages (right) of the parasite lifecycle.

Lifecycle Stage Data

The Guide to MALARIA PHARMACOLOGY contains data detailing the parasitic lifecycle activity for antimalarial ligands and their target interactions. The GtoMPdb uses a set of top-level Plasmodium lifecycle stages (collective categories for one or more developmental forms of the parasite) against which interactions in the database can be annotated and which form the basis of organising, navigating and searching for parasitic lifecycle activity. Below is the full list of Plasmodium lifecycle stage categories. Click on the stage title to view its full description and a detailed list of curated interactions:

• Plasmodium liver stage (sporozoite, hepatic schizont, hepatic merozoite)
• Plasmodium dormant liver stage (hypnozoite)
• Plasmodium asexual blood stage (erythrocytic merozoite, trophozoite, erythrocytic schizont)
• Plasmodium sexual blood stage (gametocyte)
• Plasmodium mosquito host stage (gametocyte, gamete, zygote, ookinete, oocyst, sporozoite)