Table 1.

General comparison of characteristics of gametocytes between human parasite P. falciparum and rodent parasite P. berghei.

Feature	P. falciparum	P. berghei
Genome size	23.3 Mb	18–20 Mb
Commitment to gametocytogenesis	From merozoites	From young trophozoite?
Sequestration of gametocytes	Bone marrow and spleen (?)	No evidence
Development period of gametocytes	8–12 days	26–30 hr
Shape of mature gametocytes	Crescent	Round to oval
Gametocyte mitochondria	Tubular cristae	Acristate
Subpellicular complex	Complete with microtubules	Incomplete or lack of a third membrane under the plasma lemma; absent or few microtubules
Nucleus	With a nucleolus in macrogametocytes; Lack a nucleolus in microgametocytes	Lack a nucleolus