A protein interaction network of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum

A powerful approach for understanding protein function is to identify which proteins bind to each other, as protein complexes are at the heart of most biological processes. Protein–protein interactions have now been mapped for one quarter of the malaria parasite's proteins. This large data set sheds new light on how parasites infect red blood cells and will be a vital tool for the development of new antimalarial drugs and vaccines. The primary data are freely available on the PlasmoDB database. Suthram et al. have used this new resource and find that the Plasmodium network has significantly less cross-species similarity than other eukaryotes. Its novel life style is reflected in a novel protein network, which therefore has a good chance of providing drug targets unique to the malaria parasite.