P yoelii invades reticulocytes with almost equal efficiency.

Reticulocyte-rich blood from DKO or WT mice was biotinylated and transfused into 4 BALB/c mice infected with P yoelii to measure the parasite invasion rate using the in vivo invasion assay. Each of 2 experiments is represented on the graph. Recipient mice were bled at 6 hours after transfusion, and the blood from mice of each group was pooled. Biotinylated cells were positively selected by a magnetic column using streptavidin-coated beads. Percentages of reticulocytes invaded were determined by counting the percentage of reticulocytes infected on Wright-Giemsa–stained cytocentrifuge preparations of the biotin-positive RBCs. Numbers above the bars represent the fold difference in invasion rate.