Fig. 1

Post-transcriptional regulation by PfAlba1 in the human malaria parasite. a Three complementary strategies to determine which transcripts are post-transcriptionally regulated by PfAlba1 (see text for details). Transcripts identified in all three experiments are considered highly confident targets of PfAlba1. b Model describing the function of PfAlba1. Transcripts bound by PfAlba1 are stabilized and protected from translation. At a later time point in the cell cycle, transcripts are released and translated. A relatively large fraction of genes under post-transcriptional regulation by PfAlba1 encode invasion proteins that are needed at the late stage of the cell cycle to prepare the parasite for entry of a new host cell