Figure 2

Asexual sequestration dynamics and differential gene expression during infection. (A) Distribution of asexual peak time across transcriptional clusters. Each row represents one cluster, and each column shows a 2-hour interval during the asexual parasite life cycle [20]. Shading intensity indicates the distribution of individual gene peak times within each cluster. Clusters are ranked vertically by increasing overall peak time during the asexual parasite cycle from top to bottom. Clusters of particular interest are highlighted and color-coded: export clusters, green; invasion clusters, blue; gametocyte-specific clusters, purple. (B) Asexual peak time versus parasite circulation properties during infection. For each cluster, mean transcript abundance in the patient samples versus asexual in vitro time courses was calculated by t-test to determine differential expression levels (see Methods; Additional file 1). Clusters are ranked as in (A), demonstrating that the vast majority of clusters peaking at ≤22 hours post-invasion are expressed in patient samples (representing clusters of circulating parasites) while most of those peaking later are down-regulated (representing clusters of sequestering parasites). The intersection of the two dashed lines represents the inflection point between ‘circulating’ and ‘sequestering’ clusters.