Figure 1

Organization of subtelomeric regions of RMP chromosomes. A) Organization of subtelomeric regions of chromosomes 13 of PyYM (left region), 5 of PcAS (left region) and 11 of PbA (left region). The order and orientation of the genes are shown, including genes belonging to the pir, fam-a, fam-b and fam-c gene families. Exons are shown in coloured boxes with introns as linking lines. As a comparison, a subtelomeric region of P. falciparum 3D7 chromosome 9 is shown. The shaded/grey areas mark the start of the conserved, syntenic regions. Black angular lines represent gaps. B) Artemis view showing a copy of the PbA-specific 2.3 kb repeat element containing a fragmented and `pseudogenised' bir gene (PBANKA_000720). Also shown is the location of three 27 bp telomeric repeat units. The HMM Pfam match `Cir_Bir_Yir PF06022' (grey box) spans amino acid 6 to 239 with an e-value of 2.5e-77. RPM, rodent malaria parasites.