Genetic knockout of GEXP07 led to a loss of PfEMP1 at the RBC surface and impaired adhesion. (A) Wild-type CS2 and GEXP07 knockout-infected RBCs were fixed and probed with anti-PfEMP1 (green) and counter stained with anti-REX1 (red). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). CS2+parent line. Projections of Z stacks are shown. Scale bar=5 mm. Wild-type CS2-infected RBCs exhibited the characteristic localization of PfEMP1 at the Maurer’s clefts, while PfEMP1 labeling was much weaker in the ΔGEXP07-infected RBCs.

McHugh E, Carmo OMS, Blanch A, Looker O, Liu B, Tiash S, Andrew D, Batinovic S, Low AJY, Cho HJ, McMillan P, Tilley L, Dixon MWA. Role of Plasmodium falciparum Protein GEXP07 in Maurer's Cleft Morphology, Knob Architecture, and P. falciparum EMP1 Trafficking. mBio. 2020 11(2). pii: e03320-19.