FIG. 2.

Babesiacidal activity of longicin. Longicin or synthetic peptides were incubated with B. equi-infected erythrocytes (1% parasitemia) in culture medium. Parasite-infected erythrocytes were counted as percentages of total erythrocytes. (A) Parasiticidal effect in the presence of longicin. Babesia-infected cells had almost disappeared on day 2 of 1.0 μmol treatment. (B) Parasiticidal effect in the presence of synthetic peptides. The error bars indicate standard errors of the mean (SEM). (C) Detection of longicin at the surface of B. equi merozoites. FITC-conjugated longicin P4 synthetic peptide was used for localization by fluorescent confocal microscopy. The control panel shows that FITC-labeled P1 did not bind to any cells. PC, phase contrast.