PfMyoA is critical for red blood cell invasion by merozoites. Immunofluorescence analysis of cKO parasites following DMSO or RAP treatment. FLAG-tag is detectable in DMSO-treated schizonts fixed ~48 h post-treatment, colocalising with motor complex protein GAP45, while after RAP treatment GFP but not FLAG is detectable, and the signal is restricted to the cytosol, consistent with a non-functional truncated MyoA. Scale bar 1 μm. Image stacks were deconvolved using the EpiDEMIC plugin for Icy, with a z-step size of 200 nm. Localization of PfMyoA by confirmed loss of the functional protein.

Robert-Paganin J, Robblee JP, Auguin D, Blake TCA, Bookwalter CS, Krementsova EB, Moussaoui D, Previs MJ, Jousset G, Baum J, Trybus KM, Houdusse A. Plasmodium myosin A drives parasite invasion by an atypical force generating mechanism. Nat Commun. 2019 10(1):3286