Fig. 6

The transposable element insertion in the lighter strain downregulates Zmr1 expression. a Deletion of the transposable element island leads to significantly more melanin accumulation in 3D1 at 7 days post inoculation (dpi). Distribution of gray values for at least 35 colonies at 7 dpi for 3D1, 3D7, the transposable element deletion mutants in the 3D1 background (3D1ΔTE #93, #131 and #239), and the ectopic controls (#3 and #6). Asterisks indicate significant differences in gray values with respect to the wild-type 3D1 (p value ≤ 0.05, Kruskal-Wallis). The experiment was performed three times with 3D1ΔTE #93 and twice with #131 and #239 and we obtained similar results. b Zmr1 expression levels in the transposable element knockouts (#93, #131, #239) are significantly higher than those in the wild-type 3D1 at 7 dpi. Zmr1 expression values are relative to the expression of Zmr1 in 3D1. Means and standard deviations of three technical replicates are shown. Asterisks (*) represent statistical differences with the wild-type (p value ≤ 0.05, Kruskal-Wallis test). The experiment was performed twice and we obtained similar results