Fig. 2.

Alignment of DBLα domains. A MUSCLE alignment of the predominant gene transcribed by P. falciparum isolates from cerebral malaria and hyperparasitaemia patients. The second half of the expressed sequence tag is shown and the position of the residues that distinguish DBLα0-like domains (cysteines present) from DBLα1-like domains (cysteines missing) are arrowed, and the cysteine residues are boxed. The predominant gene in 8/9 isolates from cerebral malaria patients is of the DBLα1-like type, whereas the predominant gene in 6/8 hyperparasitaemia isolates is of the DBLα0-like type. This difference is significant by Fishers Exact test (P = 0.013). Symbols: (*) indicates conserved residues; (:) indicates conservative substitution; (·) indicates semi-conservative substitution.