A silenced Plasmodium falciparum var promoter can be activated in vivo through spontaneous deletion of a silencing element in the intron.

Eukaryot Cell

Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-8132, USA.

Published: February 2005

Introns of Plasmodium falciparum var genes act as transcriptional silencing elements that help control antigenic variations. In transfected episomes, intron silencing of a drug-selectable marker under var promoter control is reversed by the spontaneous deletion of key intron regions. The resulting promoter activation does not affect the transcription of chromosomal var genes.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC549332PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/EC.4.2.490-492.2005DOI Listing

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