Fig. 7: Schematic illustration showing how CSPmut parasites trigger mosquito immune responses.
From: Malaria oocysts require circumsporozoite protein to evade mosquito immunity
CSPmut oocysts, with a conformational change in the inner membrane protein CSP due to a mutation in its pexel I/II ___domain, induce the nitration of hemocytes attached to the midgut and enhance the expression of TEP1 in a Toll pathway-dependent manner. The binding of TEP1 to oocysts results in the melanization or vacuolation of mature oocysts, and the release of sporozoites from the CSPmut oocysts was impaired.
