Malaria parasite oocysts generate sporozoites by a process termed sporogony. Essential for successful sporogony of Plasmodium berghei in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes is a complex of six LCCL lectin domain adhesive-like proteins (LAPs). LAP null mutant oocysts undergo growth and mitosis but fail to form sporozoites. At a cytological level, LAP null mutant oocyst development is indistinguishable from its wildtype counterparts for the first week, supporting the hypothesis that LAP null mutant oocysts develop normally before cytokinesis. We show here that LAP1 null mutant oocysts display highly reduced expression of sporozoite proteins and their transcription factors. Our findings indicate that events leading up to the cytokinesis defect in LAP null mutants occur early in oocyst development.

疟疾寄生虫卵囊通过称为孢子形成的过程产生子孢子。至关重要的成功孢子生殖伯氏疟原虫的按蚊蚊子是由六个LCCL凝集素域胶粘剂样蛋白（LAP）组成的复合体。LAP空突变卵囊经历生长和有丝分裂，但不能形成子孢子。在细胞学水平上，LAP无效突变卵囊的发育与野生型对应的第一周没有区别，这支持了LAP无效突变卵囊在胞质分裂之前正常发育的假说。我们在这里显示，LAP1空突变卵囊显示子孢子蛋白及其转录因子的高度减少的表达。我们的发现表明，导致LAP null突变体胞质分裂缺陷的事件发生在卵囊发育的早期。