Plasmodium berghei alpha-tubulin II: a role in both male gamete formation and asexual blood stages.

Plasmodium falciparum contains two genes encoding different isotypes of alpha-tubulin, alpha-tubulin I and alpha-tubulin II. alpha-Tubulin II is highly expressed in male gametocytes and forms part of the microtubules of the axoneme of male gametes. Here we present the characterization of Plasmodium berghei alpha-tubulin I and alpha-tubulin II that encode proteins of 453 and 450 amino acids, respectively.