Fig. 5. Variant surface glycoprotein location in BigEye cells. CryoimmunoEM images of parental (A and C) and clathrin-depleted cells (B and D). Variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) is observed on the plasma membrane, within the flagellar pocket and over a number of internal structures, tentatively assigned as endoplasmic reticulum (arrowheads) and TbRAB11 recycling endosomes (arrows), based on previous studies (Grunfelder et al., 2002, 2003). In the BigEye cells, VSG is also seen with similar distribution on the plasma membrane, endoplasmic reticulum and in recycling endosome figures. Hence, VSG remains associated with TbRAB11 transport intermediates, and these structures retain normal morphology. Scale bar: 200 nm.