Figure 1. Sequence alignment of predicted helix 5 region from different P. vivax hexose transporters.

Alignment in the predicted helix 5 region of amino acid sequences from different natural variants of PvHT was generated by the ClustalW program. Non-conserved residues are highlighted in black boxes. Assignment of helix 5 is based on predictions determined with the Tmpred program. PvHT_belem, PvHT_sal and PvHT_ind were identified from the Belem strain, Salvador 1 strain and from an Indian isolate respectively. Site-directed mutants generated in this study are also shown. PvHT Q167N corresponds to the replacement of the glutamine by an asparagine in position 167. PvHT_chim corresponds to a PvHT chimera in which amino acids located at the exofacial site between predicted helices 5 and 6 have been replaced by those of PfHT (see Materials and methods).