Table 1.
An overview of key ribosome and rRNA traits across relevant eukaryotes.
Fig 1.
Key features of P. falciparum ribosomes.
(A) A model of the Pf80S A-type ribosome was rendered and labeled in ChimeraX using data obtained from previously published structural characterizations [28]. Four ESs are highlighted on the ribosome structure, and the secondary structural predictions of two ESs are shown to represent the variability in the sequences between the P. falciparum A-type, S1-type, and S2-type rRNA. A-, S1-, and S2-type rRNA sequences were aligned via BLAST [39] to determine sequence differences. Minimal free energy secondary structures of the ES sequences were predicted at 37°C and 20°C using Vienna RNAfold v2.4.18 [40] and were manually base paired at the protrusion location from the core rRNA [28] using the Force-directed RNA (Forna) software [41]. (B) The P. falciparum rRNA types (A, S1, and S2) were given relative abundance values at each parasite stage to visualize their temporal expression pattern. Relative values are approximated from published data that investigated either rRNA abundance in P. falciparum [2,30,31] or P. berghei [33,42] in stages when rRNA abundances in P. falciparum are not known (e.g., zygote, ookinete, early oocyst, and liver stage parasites). The dashed vertical lines mark transmission events between humans and mosquitoes.