VAR3 on the surface of Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocytes. Reactivity with anti-VAR3 antibodies of live P. falciparum 3D7 and IT/FCR3 before and after antibody selection with a rabbit antiserum against recombinant DBLα/ζ-DBLε of PFI1820w shown as (B) DIC shadow-cast image with the fluorescence image superimposed and (C) the fluorescence image alone on sero-representative infected erythrocytes in confocal microscopy. Scale bar 5 μM.Wang CW, Lavstsen T, Bengtsson DC, Magistrado PA, Berger SS, Marquard AM, Alifrangis M, Lusingu JP, Theander TG, Turner L. Evidence for in vitro and in vivo expression of the conserved VAR3 (type 3) Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1. Malar J. 2012 11(1):129.

Immunofluorescence assays with variant-specific antibodies. An immunofluorescence assay (IFA) was performed using anti-PF3D7_0100300-His, anti-PF3D7_0600400-His, and anti-PF3D7_0937600-His IgG (1:50) as primary antibodies and anti-ATS IgG as the control. Specific staining of infected erythrocytes (IEs) is observed as punctuated fluorescence patterns over the IE surface using a secondary antibody labeled with Alexa 488 (green). The pre-immune sera of the immunized rats did not result in any surface reactivity with the IE. DAPI (5 mg/mL) staining of DNA in the nuclei is blue. The anti-ATS IgG and anti-PF3D7_0600400-His IgG stained IEs of both the trophozoite and schizont stages, the anti-PF3D7_0937600-His IgG only reacted with IEs of the trophozoite stage, while the anti-PF3D7_0100300-His IgG only reacted with IEs of the schizont stage.Zhang Y, Jiang N, Lu H, Hou N, Piao X, Cai P, Yin J, Wahlgren M, Chen Q. Proteomic analysis of Plasmodium falciparum schizonts reveals heparin-binding merozoite proteins. J Proteome Res. 2013 May 3;12(5):2185-93.