Table 3.

Orthologs between P. falciparum and three rodent malaria parasite species.

	Pb vs. Py	Pb vs. Pc	Pc vs. Py	Py vs. Pf	Pb vs. Pf	Pc vs. Pf
'Core' set	4188	4188	4188	4188	4188	4188
<3 RMP orthologs	-	-	-	226	234	215
RMP specific	1485	-	1448	-	-	-
Total	5673	4188	5636	4414	4422	4403
Current set	3153	4641	3318	3375	3890	3842
Potential 'Core' set	4578	4578	4578	4578	4578	4578
Potential total	6063	4578	6026	4578	4578	4578

Summary table of orthologs between P. falciparum and the three rodent parasite species. The 'core' set represent orthologs common in all four species defined via hybridization and bioinformatics information. Other gene set combinations were taken from the remaining permutations of genes generated from those with at least 2 RMP orthologs as well as the rodent parasite specific genes. The total number of orthologous pairs is the sum of the core genes with the other respective gene permutations while the current set denotes the status quo [25]. The potential total indicates the theoretical maximum of common genes as there is strong suggestion that a P. falciparum gene with at least one RMP ortholog can potentially be orthologous to all three RMP species.