Basal and starvation-induced autophagy mediates parasite survival during intraerythrocytic stages of .

The precise role of autophagy in remains largely unknown. Although a limited number of autophagy genes have been identified in this apicomplexan, only Atg8 has been characterized to a certain extent. On the basis of the expression levels of Atg8 and the putative Atg5, we report that the basal autophagy in this parasite is quite robust and mediates not only the intraerythrocytic development but also fresh invasion of red blood cells (RBCs) in the subsequent cycles.