Hypervariability within the Rifin, Stevor and Pfmc-2TM superfamilies in Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: The human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, possesses a broad repertoire of proteins that are proposed to be trafficked to the erythrocyte cytoplasm or surface, based upon the presence within these proteins of a Pexel/VTS erythrocyte-trafficking motif. This catalog includes large families of predicted 2 transmembrane (2TM) proteins, including the Rifin, Stevor and Pfmc-2TM superfamilies, of which each possesses a region of extensive sequence diversity across paralogs and between isolates that is confined to a proposed surface-exposed loop on the infected erythrocyte. Here we express epitope-tagged versions of the 2TM proteins in transgenic NF54 parasites and present evidence that the Stevor and Pfmc-2TM families are exported to the erythrocyte membrane, thus supporting the hypothesi

SUBMITTER: Lavazec C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1751529 | biostudies-literature | 2006

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature