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erythrocyte

Open Access | Epigenetic control of the variable expression of a Plasmodium falciparum receptor protein for erythrocyte invasion

Author(s): 
Lubin Jiang, María José López-Barragán, Hongying Jiang, Jianbing Mu, Deepak Gaur, Keji Zhao, Gary Felsenfeld, and Louis H. Miller
Reference: 
PNAS February 2, 2010 vol. 107 no. 5 2224-2229
Contact email: 
ljiang@niaid.nih.gov

Our data indicate that the failure of Dd2 to express the sialic acid-independent invasion receptor gene RH4 is associated with the epigenetic silencing mark H3K9 trimethylation present throughout the cycle.

Absence of Erythrocyte Sequestration and Lack of Multicopy Gene Family Expression in Plasmodium falciparum from a Splenectomized Malaria Patient

Author(s): 
Predehl S, von Kalckreuth V, et al.
Reference: 
PLoS ONE 4(10): e7459. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007459
Contact email: 
tannich@bni-hamburg.de

This case strongly supports the hypothesis that parasite surface proteins such as PfEMP1, A-type RIFIN or STEVOR are involved in interactions of infected erythrocytes with endothelial receptors mediating sequestration of mature asexual and immature sexual stages of P. falciparum. In contrast, multicopy gene families coding for B-type RIFIN and PfMC-2TM proteins may not be involved in sequestration, as these genes were transcribed in infected but not sequestered erythrocytes.

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