A GBP 130 derived peptide from Plasmodium falciparum finds to human erythrocytes and inhibits merozoite invasion in vitro

The malarial GBP 130 protein binds weakly to intact human erythrocytes, the binding sites seem to be located in the repeat region and this region's an tibodies block the merozoite invasion. A peptide from this region (residues from 701 to 720) which binds to human erythrocytes was identified. This pe ptide named 2220 did not bind to sialic acid; the binding site on human ery throcyte was affected by treatment with trypsin but not by chymotrypsin. Th e peptide was able to inhibit Plasmodium falciparum merozoite invasion of e rythrocytes. The residues F-701, K-703, L-705, T-706, E-713 (FYKILTNTDPNDEV ERDNAD) were found to be critical for peptide binding to erythrocytes.