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Functional analysis of proteins involved in Plasmodium falciparum merozoite invasion of red blood cells
Author(s) -
Cowman Alan F.,
Baldi Deborah L.,
Healer Julie,
Mills Kerry E.,
O'Donnell Rebecca A.,
Reed Michael B.,
Triglia Tony,
Wickham Mark E.,
Crabb Brendan S.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(00)01703-8
Subject(s) - plasmodium falciparum , malaria , merozoite surface protein , biology , mutant , antigen , parasite hosting , malaria vaccine , virology , transfection , microbiology and biotechnology , red blood cell , plasmodium (life cycle) , immunology , gene , genetics , world wide web , computer science
Plasmodium falciparum causes the most lethal form of malaria in humans and is responsible for over two million deaths per year. The development of a vaccine against this parasite is an urgent priority and potential protein targets include those on the surface of the asexual merozoite stage, the form that invades the host erythrocyte. The development of methods to transfect P. falciparum has enabled the construction of gain‐of‐function and loss‐of‐function mutants and provided new strategies to analyse the role of parasite proteins. In this review, we describe the use of this technology to examine the role of merozoite antigens in erythrocyte invasion and to address their potential as vaccine candidates.