[ Vincke, I.H. and Lips, M. (1948) Un nouveau plasmodium d'un rongeur sauvage du Congo: "Plasmodium berghei" n.sp. Annales de la Société Belge de Médecine Tropicale 28, 97-104 ] ] Geographical occurrence
"P. berghei" is found in the forests of Central Africa, where its natural cyclic hosts are the thicket rat ("Grammomys surdaster") and the mosquito ("Anopheles dureni").
Research
Rodent malaria parasites are used in many research institutes for studies aiming at the development of new drugs or a vaccine against malaria.
In the laboratory the natural hosts have been replaced by a number of commercially available laboratory mouse strains, and the mosquito "Anopheles stephensi", which is comparatively easily reared and maintained under defined laboratory conditions
Rodent parasites are recognised as valuable model organisms for the investigation of human malaria because they are similar in most essential aspects of morphology, physiology and life cycle and the manipulation of the complete lifecycle of these parasites, including mosquito infections, is simple and safe.
Like all malaria parasites of mammals, including the four human malaria parasites, "P. berghei" is transmitted by "Anopheles" mosquitoes and it infects the liver after being injected into the bloodstream by a bite of an infected female mosquito. After a short period (a few days) of development and multiplication, these parasites leave the liver and invade erythrocytes (red blood cells). The multiplication of the parasite in the blood causes the pathology such as anaemia and damage of essential organs of the host such as lungs, liver, spleen. "P. berghei" infections may also affect the brain and can be the cause of cerebral complications in laboratory mice. These symptoms are to a certain degree comparable to symptoms of cerebral malaria in patients infected with the human malaria parasite "Plasmodium falciparum".
The complete genome of "P. berghei" has been sequenced and it shows a high similarity, both in structure and gene content, with the genome of the human malaria parasite "Plasmodium falciparum".
"P. berghei" can be genetically manipulated in the laboratory using standard genetic engineering technologies. Consequently this parasite is often used for the analysis of the function of malaria genes using the technology of genetic modification.
A number of genetically modified "P. berghei" lines have been generated which express fluorescent reporter proteins such as Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) or bioluminescent reporters such as Luciferase. These transgenic parasites are important tools to study and visualize the parasites in the living host
The use of this model malaria parasite has provided biologists and medical researchers with more insight into:
- The interactions of malaria parasites with the immune system.
- The process of infection of the liver by malaria parasites.
- The cause of severe pathology, such as cerebral complications in malaria patients. - The infection of the mosquito and transmission of the parasite by the mosquito.
Moreover, "P. berghei" is used in research programs for development and screening of anti-malarial drugs and for the development of an effective vaccine against malaria.
References
External links
;General information about (the biology of) "P. berghei":
* [http://www.lumc.nl/1040/research/malaria/model02.html www.lumc.nl/1040/research/malaria/model02.html]
;Images of rodent malaria parasites:
* [http://www.culleton.org/rodent.html www.culleton.org/rodent.html]
;Information about the genome and genes of "P. berghei":
* [http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/P_berghei/ www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/P_berghei/]
* [http://www.genedb.org/genedb/pberghei/index.jsp www.genedb.org/genedb/pberghei/index.jsp]
* [http://www.plasmodb.org/plasmo/home.jsp www.plasmodb.org/plasmo/home.jsp]
* [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/Malaria/Rodent/index.html www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/Malaria/Rodent/index.html]
