Figure 2.

Most P. berghei Genes Are Required for Normal Growth of Asexual Blood Stages In Vivo

(A) Frequency distribution of phenotypes in P. berghei compared to published data from other eukaryotes. Data from yeast are for growth in rich medium. Data from T. gondii are from a CRISPR-Cas9 screen in human foreskin fibroblasts. Genes required for normal growth are hatched red/blue since lethality and reduced growth phenotypes were not distinguished. Salmonella Typhimurium genes are for normal growth in medium (red) or additionally required for oral colonization of farm animals (hatched). T. brucei data is from an RNAi in vitro screen. See text for data sources.

(B) BarSeq phenotypes compared to published data from RMgmDB.

(C) Average RGR and phenotype distribution for predicted essential genes. Gene numbers per category shown next to pie charts. Enrichment for essential genes is significant at p < 0.001 for ribosomal genes and p < 0.1 for known drug targets.

(D) All expressed genes covered by the screen were grouped into nine clusters depending on their relative expression across five life-cycle stages. All genes within a cluster were weighted equally.

(E) For each cluster, the proportion of normalized read counts from sexual (gametocyte and ookinete) versus asexual developmental stages was calculated (“sexiness”) and plotted against the proportion of dispensable genes in that cluster. Ring, ring stage parasites; Tro, trophozoites; Sch, schizonts; Gam, gametocytes; Ook, ookinetes.

See also Figures S2 and S3 and Tables S3 and S4.