Hidden in Plain Sight: How Altering Heterochromatin Disguises Malaria from its Host
Like a criminal adopting a disguise to evade detection, malaria parasites inside red blood cells express specific proteins on the blood cell surface to hide from the immune system. When the malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, are eventually detected, they simply switch the identity of the surface protein in a process …
Losing Heterochromatin to Determine Cell Fate
In the moments after fertilization, the tiny mass that is the embryo sets in motion developmental programs that will transform it into a human being. One of the earliest steps in human development is the formation of the germ layers. Humans and other animals in the Chordata phylum, have three …