Infection of mosquitoes from in vitro cultivated Plasmodium knowlesi H strain

In vitro studies of sexual blood stages of the most fatal malaria species, Plasmodium falciparum, have revealed key processes by which gametocytes develop and transmit infection from humans to anopheline mosquitoes. However, most malaria cases outside sub-Saharan Africa are caused by other Plasmodium spp., frequently Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium knowlesi, a zoonotic parasite of macaque monkeys. Gametocytes of P. vivax and P. knowlesi exhibit distinct morphology, faster development, and a shorter life span compared with gametocytes of P. falciparum, reflecting the evolutionary separation and biological differences of these species. Unlike P. falciparum, P. vivax cannot be cultivated in vitro, necessitating access to infected primates for laboratory studies. In contrast, P. knowlesi asexual stages have been successfully adapted to cultures in macaque and human red blood cells, but these stages have not been reported to produce gametocytes infective to mosquitoes. Here, we show that gametocyte production and sporadic, low-level mosquito infectivity of a P. knowlesi strain was not improved by application of a “crash” method commonly used to induce gametocytes in P. falciparum cultures. However, Percoll-gradient purified schizonts from this strain yielded highly synchronised populations that, in three of six experiments, produced infections at an average rate of 0.97-9.1 oocysts in Anopheles dirus mosquitoes. Oocyst counts were most abundant in mosquitoes that were fed from the synchronised cultures 36 h after schizont purification. Gametocytes in these cultures occurred at low prevalence and were difficult to observe. Transcription from orthologs of P. falciparum gametocyte-specific markers did not correlate with infectivity of the P. knowlesi parasites to mosquitoes. The ability to infect mosquitoes from in vitro-cultivated P. knowlesi will support research on the unique features of this emerging pathogen and facilitate comparative studies of transmission by the different human malarias.