Editing Plasmodium falciparum (section)

===Meiosis===

''Plasmodium falciparum'' is [[ploidy|haploid]] (one set of chromosomes) during its reproductive stages in human blood and liver. When a mosquito takes a blood meal from a [[plasmodium]] infected human host, this meal may include haploid micro[[gamete]]s and macro[[gamete]]s. Such gametes can fuse within the mosquito to form a diploid (2N) plasmodium [[zygote]], the only diploid stage in the life cycle of these parasites.<ref name = Guttery2023>{{cite journal |last1=Guttery |first1=David S. |last2=Zeeshan |first2=Mohammad |last3=Holder |first3=Anthony A. |last4=Tromer |first4=Eelco C. |last5=Tewari |first5=Rita |title=Meiosis in Plasmodium: how does it work? |journal=Trends in Parasitology |date=October 2023 |volume=39 |issue=10 |pages=812–821 |doi=10.1016/j.pt.2023.07.002}}</ref> The zygote can undergo another round of [[chromosome]] replication to form an ookinete (4N) (see Figure: Life cycle of plasmodium). The ookinete that differentiates from the zygote is a highly mobile stage that invades the mosquito midgut. The ookinetes can undergo [[meiosis]] involving two meiotic divisions leading to the release of haploid sporozoites (see Figure).<ref name = Guttery2023/> The sporozoite is an elongated crescent-shaped invasive stage. These sporozoites may migrate to the mosquito’s salivary glands and can enter a human host when the mosquito takes a blood meal. The sporozoite then can move to the human host liver and infect [[hepatocyte]]s. 

The profile of genes encoded by plasmodium that are employed in meiosis has some overlap with the profile of genes employed in meiosis in other more well-studied organisms, but is more divergent and is lacking some components of the meiotic process found in other organisms.<ref name = Guttery2023/> During plasmodium meiosis, [[homologous recombination|recombination]] occurs between homologous chromosomes as in other organisms.