Fig. 5

Time course of mRNA expression in cultured gametocytes. Gametocytes were cultured and equal volume and equal hematocrit samples were removed at the indicated time points and evaluated by Giemsa-stained thin smear microscopy (top) and RT-PCR (bottom) for the three 18S rRNA, PF3D7_0630000 and pfs25 targets. Duplicate samples were tested for 18S rRNA (black squares) and PF3D7_0630000 (red diamonds) with 95% CIs indicated; singlet samples were tested for positive control gametocyte marker pfs25 (grey triangles). Fold change was calculated for each target as the ratio of the expression on the day of interest relatives to expression of the same target on Day 6 of gametocyte culture