Figure 7. Effect of starvation on Atg8 levels and localization.

The P. falciparum early/mid trophozoite stage parasites were cultured in complete medium (Control) or HBSS (Starved), samples were collected after four (4-hrs) and eight (8-hrs) hours of culture, and processed for localization of Atg8 by IFA (A) or expression level of Atg8 by western blotting (B) using anti-Atg8 antibodies. As a loading control, β-actin expression was also assessed in the same samples. A. The labels of images are as in Figure 2, and parasite images show almost similar localization patterns of Atg8 in control and starved parasites at both the time points. B. The western blot shows significantly reduced level of Atg8 in parasites starved for 8 hours compared to the 8 hour control parasites, suggesting downregulation of Atg8. Similar β-actin levels in control and starved parasites indicate that similar sample amounts were loaded.