page_title: Plasmodium cynomolgi
section_title: Life cycle
hierarchical_section_title: Plasmodium cynomolgi / Life cycle
caption_attribution_description: English: A liver stage parasite of Plasmodium cynomolgi infecting primary rhesus hepatocytes. 11 days after infection, cells were fixed and stained for a parasite-specific protein called Hsp70 (shown in green) as well as with the DNA dye DAPI (stains both host nuclei which appear as blue circles, and parasite nuclei). The image is approximately 100 micrometers across.
context_page_description: Plasmodium cynomolgi is an apicomplexan parasite that infects mosquitoes and Asian Old World monkeys. This species has been used as a model for human Plasmodium vivax because Plasmodium cynomolgi shares the same life cycle and some important biological features with P. vivax.
context_section_description: The life cycle of P. cynomolgi resembles that of other Plasmodium species, particularly the related human parasite Plasmodium vivax. Like other Plasmodium species, P. cynomolgi infects both an insect host and a vertebrate (generally Old World monkeys). The parasite is transmitted when the mosquito host takes a blood meal from the vertebrate host. During the feeding, motile parasites called sporozoites are injected from the mosquito salivary gland into the host tissue. These sporozoites move into the bloodstream and infect cells in the host liver, where they grow and divide over the course of approximately one week. At this point, the parasitized liver cells rupture, releasing thousands of parasite daughter cells, called merozoites, which either move into the bloodstream to infect red blood cells, or remain in the liver to reinfect liver cells. Those that reinfect liver cells form a quiescent stage called a hypnozoite, which can remain dormant in the liver cell for months or years before reactivating. The merozoites that enter the bloodstream infect red blood cells, where they grow and replicate. After approximately 48 hours, the infected red blood cell bursts, allowing the daughter merozoites to infect new red blood cells. This cycle can continue indefinitely. Occasionally, after infection of a red blood cell, the parasite develops into one of two distinct sexual forms called male and female gametocytes (also micro and macrogametocytes respectively). If a mosquito takes a blood meal containing a gametocyte of each sex, the two sexual stages merge and form a zygote. The zygote develops into a motile stage called the ookinete which penetrates the wall of the mosquito gut and forms a stationary oocyst. The oocyst develops over about 11 days, then begins to release thousands of sporozoites into the mosquito's hemolymph. The sporozoites move through the hemolymph and infect the mosquito salivary glands, where they will again be injected into a mammalian host when the mosquito takes a blood meal.
caption: Immunofluorescence image of P. cynomolgi infecting macaque liver cells. The parasite is shown in green. Large blue ovals are macaque cell nuclei. Blue dots surrounded by green are parasite nuclei. The image is approximately 100 micrometers across.
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