Fig. 3

Structure and localization of SERA. a Schematic representation of the Plasmodium falciparum SERA5 and SERA8 genes and proteins; P. falciparum 3D7 strain was used as a reference for the illustration. The gene IDs in PlasmoDB [18] were PF3D7_0207600 and PF3D7_0207300, for Pf-SERA5 and Pf-SERA8, respectively. Amino acid positions for the Pf-SERA5 fragments are: 47 kDa corresponding to 23–390 aa; 50 kDa: 391–842 aa; 6 kDa: 843–886 aa; and 18 kDa: 887–997 aa. Black arrows indicate the PfSUB1 cleavage sites. The 50 kDa + 6 kDa fragment is further processed by an unknown protease (gray arrow). b Localization of Pf-SERA5 in the parasitophorous vacuole. Left image shows an infected red blood cell with schizont stage malaria parasites inside the parasitophorous vacuole. Right image, N-terminal antisera was used to localize Pf-SERA5 within a schizont parasitized red blood cell. Viewed under JEM-1230 transmission electron microscope (18,000× magnification). SERA5 conjugated gold particles were observed inside the parasitophorous vacuole. Scale-bar: b, 500 nm