Figure 1. The problem.

P. falciparum (blue) resides in red blood cells (pale orange) inside a parasitophorous vacuole (white). In order to survive, P. falciparum needs to export numerous proteins into the red blood cell, which remodel the host cell to suit the purposes of the parasite. The mechanism by which these proteins are exported is still unclear (Figure modified from Römisch, 2005) ⁶.