Plasmodium sporozoites are deposited in the host skin by Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasites migrate from the dermis to the liver, where they invade hepatocytes through a moving junction (MJ) to form a replicative parasitophorous vacuole (PV). Malaria sporozoites need to traverse cells during progression through host tissues, a process requiring parasite perforin-like protein 1 (PLP1). We find that sporozoites traverse cells inside transient vacuoles that precede PV formation. Sporozoites initially invade cells inside transient vacuoles by an active MJ-independent process that does not require vacuole membrane remodeling or release of parasite secretory organelles typically involved in invasion. Sporozoites use pH sensing and PLP1 to exit these vacuoles and avoid degradation by host lysosomes. Next, parasites enter the MJ-dependent PV, which has a different membrane composition, precluding lysosome fusion. The malaria parasite has thus evolved different strategies to evade host cell defense and establish an intracellular niche for replication.

Experimental genetics have been widely used to explore the biology of the malaria parasites. The rodent parasites Plasmodium berghei and less frequently P. yoelii are commonly utilised, as their complete life cycle can be reproduced in the laboratory and because they are genetically tractable via homologous recombination. However, due to the limited number of drug-selectable markers, multiple modifications of the parasite genome are difficult to achieve and require large numbers of mice. Here we describe a novel strategy that combines positive-negative drug selection and flow cytometry-assisted sorting of fluorescent parasites for the rapid generation of drug-selectable marker-free P. berghei and P. yoelii mutant parasites expressing a GFP or a GFP-luciferase cassette, using minimal numbers of mice. We further illustrate how this new strategy facilitates phenotypic analysis of genetically modified parasites by fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging of P. berghei mutants arrested during liver stage development.