Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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Daily Overview |
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CP4.2: Cells, Molecules and Genes – Tribute to Bob Sinden - 5 min talks Location: Lecture Theatre 1 Session Chair: Alicja (Ala) Tabor, The University Of Queensland Session Chair: Alexander Gofton, CSIRO | |
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Exploring the regulation of sex ratios in Plasmodium berghei. The University of Melbourne, Australia Malaria, caused by single-cell parasites of the genus Plasmodium, currently has a widespread impact on global public health security. As a sexually reproducing species, understanding the sexual biology of Plasmodium is fundamental to developing approaches to control malaria transmission. It is widely accepted that Plasmodium exhibits a female-biased sex ratio (male to female is <1) during gametocyte development and actively adjusts this ratio to promote outcrossing. However, due to the lack of straightforward research models, how Plasmodium controls and changes its sex ratio is still unclear. By genetically manipulating sexual differentiation in Plasmodium berghei, we could artificially bias sex ratio. Using this system, we found that, contrary to existing evidence, when the growth of the parasite stabilizes, the sex ratio of the gametocytes (male to female) is close to 1:1. Furthermore, isogenic parasite lines do not modify sex ratio in response to an overabundance of one sex. | |