Figure 1

Schematic representation of the plant expression cassette and the construct design for the recombinant plasmodial antigens. The gene of interest (GOI) is expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana using the vector pTRAc with the shown expression cassette (a). The constructs used during this study are summarized including the PlasmoDB number and the amino acid sequences for the respective domains (b). Antigens were either expressed as single domain constructs fused to the red fluorescent protein DsRed, or as multi-domain constructs without DsRed (c). Potential N-glycosylation sites had been removed by replacing relevant asparagine residues by alanine in the first EGF-like domain of MSP1, the second EGF-like domain of MSP10 and in Pfs25. SAR: scaffold attachment region; CaMV 35S promoter and terminator: promoter with duplicated enhancer and terminator of the Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S gene; 5′-untranslated region: 5′-UTR of the chalcone synthase gene from Petroselinum crispum; signal peptide sequence: transit peptide sequence of the murine antibody 24 heavy chain; GOI Gene of interest.