Plasmodium falciparum Gametocyte Development 1 (Pfgdv1) and Gametocytogenesis Early Gene Identification and Commitment to Sexual Development
Figure 4
Expression profile of the Pfge genes through gametocytogenesis.
MACS purified late stage asexual parasite cultures were set up at 6% hematocrit and sorbitol synchronized 2 hours later to remove all but the newly invaded ring stage parasites. Parasitemia was monitored by daily Giemsa-stained smear. Ring (blue), schizont stage parasitemias (red), and stage II gametocytemia (green) are plotted (A & B). The relative abundance, (log2) of the indicated gene in relation to the expression level on day 2 was calculated using the 2−ΔΔCT method [43] with seryl tRNA synthetase as the reference and plotted in C and D): Pfaldolase (blue), Pfkahrp (brown), Pfmsp7-5 (purple), Pfs16 (green), Pfgdv1 (bright red); while Pfge1 (orange), Pfge2 (pale pink), Pfge3 (beige), Pfg27 (light blue), Pfge7 (dark pink), Pfge8 (light green), Pfs47(turquoise) and Pfs16 (green) are shown in (E and F). The 3 asexual cycles are indicated by numbers as well as gray dotted lines, and NAG treatment is indicated by the gray box. Representative data from one of three independent experiments is shown. The samples from the different time points were tested in triplicate and the average relative expression is plotted with the error bars representing the range.