Identification of basic transcriptional elements required for rif gene transcription

Abstract

The rif gene family is the largest multi-gene family in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The gene products of rif genes, rifins, are clonally variant and transported to the surface of the infected erythrocyte where they are targets of the human immune response. Maximal rif transcription occurs during the late ring to early trophozoite stages of the intra-erythrocytic cycle. The factors involved in the transcriptional activation and repression of rif genes are not known. In this paper, we characterize several DNA elements involved in the regulation of rif transcription. We identify the upstream region that contains a functional promoter and the transcriptional start site of a rif g..