Global gene expression of human malaria parasite liver stages throughout intrahepatocytic development

To investigate the poorly characterized asymptomatic liver stages (LS) of plasmodium faciparum, we analyzed isoloated LS RNA which is the first comprehensive gene expression profile during in vivo intrahepatocytic development. We identified LS-specific processes such as cell cycle, metabolism, and host-parasite interaction pathways, and, interestingly, var gene transcipts. Overall design: Differential gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for plasmodium falciparum in the early liver stage and comparative analysis with plasmodium vivax.