Delineating Plasmodium liver infection across space and time

Abstract

The liver is a major entry point and gatekeeper for invasive pathogens. However, high-resolution, spatiotemporal transcriptomic analysis of host-pathogen interactions has remained challenging. Afriat et al. have deconvoluted Plasmodium berghei liver-stage maturation at an unprecedented scale and discovered molecular signatures of heterogeneity during pre-erythrocytic development of malarial parasites.

Keywords: Plasmodium; host–parasite interactions; liver zonation; single-cell RNA sequencing; single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization; spatiotemporal transcriptomic analysis.