Normal (salivary gland) sporozoite production. Normal gliding motility. Transmission of pbspeld ko sporozoites through mosquito bite did not initiate blood stage infection. High doses (2 104) of pbspeld ko sporozoites delivered through intravenously route led to occasional break through infection with a pre patent period of 9 days versus of 3.5 days for WT sporozoites

Normal (salivary gland) sporozoite production. Normal gliding motility. Transmission of pbspeld ko sporozoites through mosquito bite did not initiate blood stage infection. High doses (2 104) of pbspeld ko sporozoites delivered through intravenously route led to occasional break through infection with a pre patent period of 9 days versus of 3.5 days for WT sporozoites.Normal hepatocyte invasion of mutant sporozoites. Mutants showed normal pattern of intracellular differentiation into EEFs at 12 hrs post infection of HepG2 cells and were similar in size to WT EEFs. At 36 hours the mutant EEFs were smaller than WT, and the difference in size was more pronounced at 62 hrs time point that revealed a distinct block in EEF development likely around 36 hr.