CDRI probes mitochondrion of malaria parasite for alternative drug targets

Researchers at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow are trying to identify proteins which influence the shapefunction of the single mitochondrion that the malaria parasite harbors as well as how it undergoes repair. Understanding these processes will help decipher how the parasite adapts to environmental perturbations, mitigate drug-induced toxicity (phenotypic drug resistance), drive recurrence of infection after completion of treatment, and relapse from dormant stages. The research group is using multipronged approaches to understand how the structurally-functionally diverged components of genome and proteome maintenance pathways give a survival advantage to the malaria parasite. It is very intriguing that despite the vulnerability to genotoxic and proteotoxic stress, the parasite maintains cellular homeostasis even under hostile conditions and can withstand immune surveillance mounted by mosquito vectors and human hosts.