Figure 3

RNA obtained at different stages of P. falciparum development in the erythrocyte. (a) Representative Giemsa-stained P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes at the growth stages analyzed in this study. Samples from a tightly synchronized P. falciparum FAF6 culture were collected for the extraction of total RNA at ring (~4, 8, 16 and 20 h post-invasion), trophozoite (24, 32 and 36 h post-invasion) and schizont stages (40 and 42 h post-invasion). The cells depicted show the morphology of the parasitized cells in the culture at the given time point. The amount of RNA yielded from parasite cultures at around 4 h post-invasion was too low to warrant the inclusion of this time point in the subsequent gene-expression studies. Cells in the top row of boxes are from the first time course; cells in the bottom row are from the repeat time course (performed approximately 4 months later). (b) The quantity of total RNA inside the parasitized cell increases dramatically over the intraerythrocytic cycle. Total RNA was extracted from tightly synchronized P. falciparum FAF6 culture samples collected at nine stages (see above) over a single 48-h growth cycle of the intraerythrocytic parasite. The data are averaged from two different time courses performed approximately 4 months apart and are shown ± range/2.