Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) appears to play an key role as both a virulence factor and as a target of naturally acquired immunity [1,2].This large family of molecules is encoded by the highly polymorphic superfamily of var genes of which there are 60 variants in every genome [3].A rapidly growing collection of var sequences is now available from clinical isolates around the world [4-11].Despite immense diversity both in terms of overall organization and primary sequence, the majority of var genes contain a DBL1␣ region [3].The existence of short islands of homology within this region has enabled the design of primers that can be used to sample sequence from most var genes to create DBL1␣ sequence tags [5].A standard approach to classification of these sequence tags would enable direct comparisons to be made between different studies.However, the extreme diversity of var genes and the fact that they undergo intra-genic recombination [4,12,13], makes this difficult.Despite the high diversity there does appear to be underlying simplicity to the var genes that supports the use of information present in DBL1␣ sequence tags in making comparisons between the expression levels in different isolates.Analysis of
Language: English
Topic: Malaria Research and Control
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,460
Funder: Wellcome Trust
Awards: Analysis of circulating and sequestered populations of Plasmodium falciparum in fatal paediatric malaria., Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocyte surafce antigens: characterisation of epitopes displayed by parasites causing severe malaria., Plasmodium falciparum antigenic variation: parasite antigen expression under differing levels of host immunity.
OpenAlex ID: W1964492981