ArticleBlood2016
A spiral scaffold underlies cytoadherent knobs in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes.
Article in Blood, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Optimisation of freeze substitution protocols for the examination of malaria parasite structure by volumetric electron microscopy.Journal of microscopy · 2026Article
- Pair cross-correlation analysis for assessing protein co-localization.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Contact Dynamics of CytoadheringACS infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Deep learning image analysis for continuous single-cell imaging of dynamic processes in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes.Communications biology · 2025Article
- PfEMP1 and var genes - Still of key importance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria pathogenesis and immunity.Advances in parasitology · 2024Review
- Article
- Knobs, Adhesion, and Severe Falciparum Malaria.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023Review
- CD36-A Host Receptor Necessary for Malaria Parasites to Establish and Maintain Infection.Microorganisms · 2022Review
- Deletion of the Plasmodium falciparum exported protein PTP7 leads to Maurer's clefts vesiculation, host cell remodeling defects, and loss of surface presentation of EMP1.PLoS pathogens · 2022Article
- A particle-based computational model to analyse remodelling of the red blood cell cytoskeleton during malaria infections.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Ultrastructural characterization of host-parasite interactions ofParasitology · 2022Article
- Co-chaperone involvement in knob biogenesis implicates host-derived chaperones in malaria virulence.PLoS pathogens · 2021Article
- A newly characterized malaria antigen on erythrocyte and merozoite surfaces induces parasite inhibitory antibodies.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2021Article
- The Role of Malaria Parasite Heat Shock Proteins in Protein Trafficking and Remodelling of Red Blood Cells.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2021Review
- Article
- An exported kinase family mediates species-specific erythrocyte remodelling and virulence in human malaria.Nature microbiology · 2020Article
- Article
- Cerebral Plasmodium falciparum malaria: The role of PfEMP1 in its pathogenesis and immunity, and PfEMP1-based vaccines to prevent it.Immunological reviews · 2020Review
- Host Cytoskeleton Remodeling throughout the Blood Stages of Plasmodium falciparum.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2019Review
- Interplay between Attenuation- and Virulence-Factors ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Much of the virulence of Plasmodium falciparum malaria is caused by cytoadherence of infected erythrocytes, which promotes parasite survival by preventing clearance in the spleen. Adherence is mediated by membrane protrusions known as knobs, whose formation depends on the parasite-derived, knob-associated histidine-rich protein (KAHRP). Knobs are required for cytoadherence under flow conditions, and they contain both KAHRP and the parasite-derived erythrocyte membrane protein PfEMP1. Using electron tomography, we have examined the 3-dimensional structure of knobs in detergent-insoluble skeletons of P falciparum 3D7 schizonts. We describe a highly organized knob skeleton composed of a spiral structure coated by an electron-dense layer underlying the knob membrane. This knob skeleton is connected by multiple links to the erythrocyte cytoskeleton. We used immuno-electron microscopy (EM) to locate KAHRP in these structures. The arrangement of membrane proteins in the knobs, visualized by high-resolution freeze-fracture scanning EM, is distinct from that in the surrounding erythrocyte membrane, with a structure at the apex that likely represents the adhesion site. Thus, erythrocyte knobs in P falciparum infection contain a highly organized skeleton structure underlying a specialized region of membrane. We propose that the spiral and dense coat organize the cytoadherence structures in the knob, and anchor them into the erythrocyte cytoskeleton. The high density of knobs and their extensive mechanical linkage suggest an explanation for the rigidification of the cytoskeleton in infected cells, and for the transmission to the cytoskeleton of shear forces experienced by adhering cells.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.