Identificación de proteínas de cubierta y de membrana en merozoitos de Plasmodium falciparum

Abstract

Proteins which are easily shed from the merozoite (probably coat proteins) and proteins intrinsic to the membrane, were identified in Plasmodium falciparum by fractionation of purified endogenously labelled merozoites. The method detects surface proteins also if they are not fully exposed to exgenous enzymatic actions. The continuous labelling during the whole cycle, ensures identification of proteins independently of their time of synthesis. The proteins probably related to the coat of the merozoite had 100, 75, 50 and 45 KD. In detergent extract of the membrane fraction were detected 6 main proteins of 225, 86, 82, 75, 72, and 40 KD and 4 minor proteins of 200, 69, 45 and 43 KD. The aproach of this work is complementary to other efforts in the characterization of the surface of Plasmodium falciparum merozoites .