Figure 5. Native protein expression of the PvMSP3 family members by quantitative immunoblot.

Plasmodium vivax parasite extracts representing late-stage trophozoites and early schizonts from the Belem strain (B) or schizont stage from the Salvador I strain (S) were separated by SDS-PAGE, transferred to nitrocellulose membranes and probed with primary antisera at 1∶10,000 dilution. The expression level of each gene in the Salvador I strain refers to the relative percentage of all PvMSP3 family members (red). Asterisks mark the position of the various MSP3 proteins of the expected size recognized by specific antisera. A 40 kDa band was consistently detected in blots using Belem strain and may be accounted as non-specific reactivity.