Multiple alignments of PfEMP-1 M2 domains.

Multiple sequence alignments were obtained by means of Clustalw software at: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw/. The amino acid numbers correspond to the amino acid numbers of the full-length CIDR-1. Dashes (–) in the multiple alignment indicate gaps that were introduced to maintain alignment. Consensus residues were identified with the Consensus program at:http://www.bork.embl-heidelberg.de/Alignment/consensus.html. The 80% amino acid consensus sequence of the 5 CD36-binding CIDR-1 domains (MC, FVO, A4, A4 tres, and ItG2 [DIE]) and the 100% amino acid consensus sequence of 2 non–CD36-binding CIDR-1 domains (3D7 AL010226and FCR3-CSA) are indicated below the alignments. Identical residues are identified according to single-letter amino acid codes, and conserved cysteines are boxed. The codes for residues that have similar character are as follows: c indicates charge (D, E, H, K, R); + indicates positive (H, K, R); h indicates hydrophobic (A, C, F, I, L, M, V, W, Y); p indicates polar (C, D, E, H, K, N, Q, R, S, T); s indicates small (A, C, D, G, N, P, S, T, V); u indicates tiny (A, G, S); b indicates big (E, K, R, I, L, N, S, Y, W). Residues or regions in the MC CIDR-1 mutated for the FCR3-CSA sequence are marked by an asterisk or a line, respectively.