During the vertebrate stage of the Plasmodium life cycle, obligate intracellular malaria parasites establish a vacuolar niche for replication, first within host hepatocytes at the pre-patent liver-stage and subsequently in erythrocytes during the pathogenic blood-stage. Survival in this protective microenvironment requires diverse transport mechanisms that enable the parasite to transcend the vacuolar barrier. Effector proteins exported out of the vacuole modify the erythrocyte membrane, increasing access to serum nutrients which then cross the vacuole membrane through a nutrient-permeable channel, supporting rapid parasite growth. This review highlights the most recent insights into the organization of the parasite vacuole to facilitate the solute, lipid and effector protein trafficking that establishes a nutrition pipeline in the terminally differentiated, organelle-free red blood cell.

在疟原虫的脊椎动物阶段在生命周期中，专性细胞内疟原虫建立了一个用于复制的液泡生态位，首先在未开放肝脏阶段的宿主肝细胞中，随后在致病性血液阶段的红细胞中。在这种保护性微环境中生存需要多种运输机制，使寄生虫能够超越液泡屏障。从液泡输出的效应蛋白修饰红细胞膜，增加对血清营养物质的获取，然后通过营养可渗透通道穿过液泡膜，支持寄生虫的快速生长。本综述重点介绍了对寄生虫液泡组织的最新见解，以促进溶质、脂质和效应蛋白的运输，从而在终末分化、无细胞器的红细胞中建立营养管道。