Fig. 1

Stage-specific and constitutive expression of FPs along the Plasmodium life cycle. Human and mosquito outlines displayed in the center illustrate the division of the parasite cycle in insect-specific and vertebrate-specific stages. Fluorescent P. berghei and P. falciparum reporter lines driving expression of the respective FP from classical genomic loci used for ectopic gene expression are shown. Reporter lines are classified in constitutive, oocyst- and sporozoite-specific, zoite-specific, sporozoite- and/or liver stage-specific as well as gametocyte-specific. The colour code highlighting the different expression groups matches with that of the life cycle sections the respective lines express the fluorescent reporter. Images of the P. berghei fluo line are shown as an example of a reporter line with both constitutive (GFP driven by the ef1a promoter) and stage-specific FP expression (mCherry driven by the CSP promoter in late oocysts, sporozoites and early liver stages). Merged images showing GFP and mCherry expression in combination with nuclear staining are shown for all stages. The scale bar for all images is 10 µm except for midgut and salivary gland where it represents 100 µm. Please note that P. falciparum reporter lines making use of the etramp10.3./peg4 promoter also display FP expression in gametocytes, although not shown here. Also, the P. berghei reporter line PbGFP103464 is fluorescent in late liver stages only, while the reporter line PbANKA-Cherry 2204cl5 is fluorescent in sporozoites and liver stages