Recovery of adhesion to chondroitin-4-sulphate in Plasmodium falciparum varCSA disruption mutants by antigenically similar PfEMP1 variants.

Protection against maternal malaria has been associated with the acquisition of a specific antibody response that prevents adhesion of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes to the glycosaminoglycan chondroitin-4-sulphate (CSA), which is present in the placental intervillous space. These antibodies are directed against variant forms of the P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) that mediate binding to CSA.

Frequent ectopic recombination of virulence factor genes in telomeric chromosome clusters of P. falciparum.

Persistent and recurrent infections by Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites result from the ability of the parasite to undergo antigenic variation and evade host immune attack. P. falciparum parasites generate high levels of variability in gene families that comprise virulence determinants of cytoadherence and antigenic variation, such as the var genes.

Identification of the telomere in Trypanosoma cruzi reveals highly heterogeneous telomere lengths in different parasite strains.

Here we describe the cloning and characterisation of the Trypanosoma cruzi telomere. In the Y strain, it is formed by typical GGGTTA repeats with a mean size of approximately 500 bp. Adjacent to the telomere repeats we found a DNA sequence with significant homology to the T.

Cytochrome P450 1A1 cDNA from plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) and induction of P450 1A1 mRNA in various tissues by 3-methylcholanthrene and isosafrole.

A full length cDNA coding for cytochrome P450 1A1 was isolated from a plaice liver cDNA library constructed in lambda ZAPII. The deduced amino acid sequence of this cDNA was 78% homologous to that of rainbow trout P450 1A1 and 57 and 51% homologous to human P450 1A1 and P450 1A2, respectively. Comparisons of these sequences show the plaice cDNA to be most similar to mammalian and trout P450 1A1 sequences, but also to have certain residues specific to fish P450 1A1.