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Infection and Immunity, February 2004, p. 1010-1018, Vol. 72, No. 2
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.2.1010-1018.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Members of the Merozoite Surface Protein 7 Family with Similar Expression Patterns Differ in Ability To Protect against Plasmodium yoelii Malaria

Kerrianne Mello,^1, Thomas M. Daly,¹ Carole A. Long,² James M. Burns,¹ and Lawrence W. Bergman^1*

Division of Molecular Parasitology, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,¹ Malaria Vaccine Development Unit, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland²

Received 8 July 2003/ Returned for modification 16 September 2003/ Accepted 16 November 2003

Previously, we described the isolation of the Plasmodium yoelii sequence-related molecules P. yoelii MSP-7 (merozoite surface protein 7) and P. yoelii MSRP-2 (MSP-7-related protein 2) by their ability to interact with the amino-terminal end of P. yoelii MSP-1 in a yeast two-hybrid system. One of these molecules was the homologue of Plasmodium falciparum MSP-7, which was biochemically isolated as part of the shed MSP-1 complex. In the present study, with antibodies directed against recombinant proteins, immunoprecipitation analyses of the rodent system demonstrated that both P. yoelii MSP-7 and P. yoelii MSRP-2 could be isolated from parasite lysates and from parasite culture supernatants. Immunofluorescence studies colocalized P. yoelii MSP-7 and P. yoelii MSRP-2 with the amino-terminal portion of MSP-1 and with each other on the surface of schizonts. Immunization with P. yoelii MSRP-2 but not P. yoelii MSP-7 protected mice against a lethal infection with P. yoelii strain 17XL. These results establish that both P. yoelii MSP-7 and P. yoelii MSRP-2 are expressed on the surface of merozoites and released from the parasite and that P. yoelii MSRP-2 may be the target of a protective immune response.

Editor: W. A. Petri, Jr.

Present address: Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115.

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