Alignment of the predicted amino acid sequences of the corresponding CD36 binding domain of different var genes. The rC1-2 [1-179] and the rC1-2 [10-151] sequences were amplified by RT-PCR from the expressed var genes of different P falciparum strains and clones (except for the gDNA clone Dd2 var-6). These sequences were detected in gDNA of many strains. Several sequences appeared as expressed var genes (by RT-PCR) in more than one strain. The MC type (first sequence) includes sequences (cDNA, gDNA and RT-PCR) originated from MC parasites (R⁺, R⁻, and K⁻). The ItG/FVO type (second sequence) represents sequences from cDNA of clone FVO, RT-PCR product of ItG-ICAM and gDNA sequences from ItG-ICAM, ItG2-F6, ItG2-G1, FCR3-C5, FCR3-C6, and Palo Alto parasites. The HB3 type (third sequence) includes the RT-PCR products of ItG2-F6 and FCR3-C5 and the gDNA and RT-PCR products of HB3. Other depicted sequences represents expressed var genes (with the exception of Dd2 var-6) amplified with the Uni179 primers from the indicated strains. The emerging consensus sequence of conserved amino acids is depicted on top of the alignment. Highly conserved amino acids are indicated in red, conserved substitutions are indicated by orange, and nonconserved substitutions by green. The conserved cysteine residues are marked by asterisks and additional cysteine residues are shown in blue. These sequence data are available from GenBank under accession numbers AF008978-AF009001.