Fig. 2.

Distinct clusters of expression link to biological development of the P. falciparum gametocyte. Clusters of genes expressed during gametocyte development following K10 clustering of the total transcriptome. a The 10 clusters were grouped into phases of decreased, maintained, increased or developmentally regulated transcript abundance with number of transcripts per cluster indicated in brackets and genes of interest from specific clusters highlighted next to heatmaps. Area plot designates the timing of appearance and abundance of specific stages throughout the time course. b Biological processes of interest were selected from GO enrichment (Additional File 1) of each of the clusters (P < 0.05) with the number of genes related to these functions shown for the groups of clusters in bar graphs with generic descriptions of the gene sets used to describe their function