Schematic representation and alignment of the amino acid sequences of
the 179-aa minimal CD36-binding domain. (A) Schematic
representation and amino acid boundaries of the MCvar1
gene (AAB60251) and the 179-aa CD36-binding domain. (B)
Alignment of the amino acid sequences of the 179 region of PfEMP1 from
various P. falciparum parasites. The consensus at 80%
homology is also given. Alignment was performed by using the
clustalw program (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw/),
and the 80% consensus was performed by using the consensus
program (http://www.bork.embl-heidelberg.de/cgi/consensus).
Uppercase letters indicate conserved residues by the single-letter
amino acid code. Lowercase letters indicate conserved classes of amino
acids as follows: h, hydrophobic residues (A, C, F, G, H, I, K, L, M,
T, T, V, W, Y); p, polar residues (C, D, E, H, K, N, Q, R, S, T); c,
charged resides (D, E, H, K, R); a, aromatic residues (F, H, W, Y); s,
small residues (A, C, D, G, N, P, S, T, V); +, positive residues (H, K,
R); −, negative residues (D, E); l, aliphatic residues (I, L, V); and
t, turnlike residues (A, C, D, E, G, H, K, N, Q, R, S, T). Peptides
from the MC sequence used in various assays are indicated with their
amino acid boundaries. The mutated site of the MC179 sequence
(IN-NTTTH) also is indicated.