22 Facts About Plasmodium

Plasmodium is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects.

The life cycles of Plasmodium species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vertebrate host during a blood meal.

Plasmodium is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa, a large group of parasitic eukaryotes.

Over 200 species of Plasmodium have been described, many of which have been subdivided into 14 subgenera based on parasite morphology and host range.

Evolutionary relationships among different Plasmodium species do not always follow taxonomic boundaries; some species that are morphologically similar or infect the same host turn out to be distantly related.

Species of Plasmodium are distributed globally wherever suitable hosts are found.

Plasmodium parasites were first identified in the late 19th century by Charles Laveran.

Plasmodium species contain many features that are common to other eukaryotes, and some that are unique to their phylum or genus.

The Plasmodium genome is separated into 14 chromosomes contained in the nucleus.

Species of Plasmodium contain two large membrane-bound organelles of endosymbiotic origin, the mitochondrion and the apicoplast, both of which play key roles in the parasite's metabolism.

Unlike mammalian cells which contain many mitochondria, Plasmodium cells contain a single large mitochondrion that coordinates its division with that of the Plasmodium cell.

Life cycle of Plasmodium involves several distinct stages in the insect and vertebrate hosts.

Plasmodium belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, a taxonomic group of single-celled parasites with characteristic secretory organelles at one end of the cell.

However, later studies sampling more Plasmodium species found the parasites of mammals to form a clade along with the genus Hepatocystis, while the parasites of birds or lizards appear to form a separate clade with evolutionary relationships not following the subgenera:.

All Plasmodium species are parasitic and must pass between a vertebrate host and an insect host to complete their life cycles.

Plasmodium parasites have been described in a broad array of vertebrate hosts including reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Unlike with Plasmodium species infecting mammals, those infecting birds are distributed across the globe.

Plasmodium parasites have been described in most lizard families and, like avian parasites, are spread worldwide.

Sometimes, insects infected with Plasmodium have reduced lifespan and reduced ability to produce offspring.

Further, some species of Plasmodium appear to cause insects to prefer to bite infected vertebrate hosts over non-infected hosts.

Plasmodium was first identified when Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran described parasites in the blood of malaria patients in 1880.

In 1885, zoologists Ettore Marchiafava and Angelo Celli reexamined the parasite and termed it a member of a new genus, Plasmodium, named for the resemblance to the multinucleate cells of slime molds of the same name.