NSUN2 and malaria: In addition, this study also exhibited that NSUN2 deletion directly lowered the level of m5C methylation in target gene transcripts related to the development of plasmodium gametophytes, drastically reducing the ability of plasmodium to produce mature gametophytes, and that infections with NSUN2-knockout parasites also substantially decreased the number of plasmodium at all stages of sexual development, ultimately suppressing malaria transmission (Liu et al., 2022).