The Primary Structure of a Plasmodium Falciparum Polypeptide Related to Heat Shock Proteins

A cDNA library constructed from ring-stage RNA isolated from Plasmodium falciparum FCR-3/Gambia was screened with immune human serum and two related positive clones were isolated. Nucleotide sequence analysis of these recombinant clones revealed an open translational reading frame for 681 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 74.3 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence of the polypeptide shows extensive homology to several heat shock proteins (hsp) which have been described. Northern and Southern hybridization analysis indicates that P. falciparum has a second gene which shares common sequences with the hsp gene described in this study.