R. Behari et K. Haldar, PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM - PROTEIN LOCALIZATION ALONG A NOVEL, LIPID-RICH TUBOVESICULAR MEMBRANE NETWORK IN INFECTED ERYTHROCYTES, Experimental parasitology, 79(3), 1994, pp. 250-259
Erythrocytes infected with Plasmodium falciparum contain a novel netwo
rk of tubovesicular membranes which can be prominently labeled by fluo
rescent sphingolipids and have been implicated in trafficking pathways
in infected red cells. We have developed a method to simultaneously i
mage lipids of the tubovesicular membrane network and exported parasit
e proteins by high-resolution confocal microscopy. Our results indicat
e that Exp1 (a 23-kDa protein marker of the parasitophorous vacuolar m
embrane and intraerythrocytic loops) concentrates in membrane domains
on the periphery of the parasite and in the tubovesicular membrane net
work. In contrast, a 45-kDa protein localized to the Maurer's clefts i
s distributed in punctate domains along lipid labeled tubovesicular me
mbranes, frequently along the periphery of the network juxtaposed to t
he red cell membrane. These results strongly suggest that the lipid-ri
ch tubovesicular membranes are a complex network containing domains of
parasite proteins. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.