Transcription and coregulation of multigene families in Plasmodium falciparum

Subtelomeric regions in the Plasmodium genome are enriched with members of three major multigene families: var, rif and stevor. In this article, we discuss a recent study by Sharp and colleagues that focused on the transcribed repertoire of var and stevor genes in asexual and sexual Plasmodium parasites. Transcription of these two multigene families seems to be unlinked in asexual parasites. Parasites in the gametocyte stages transcribe members of the upsC subset of var genes, which indicates the intriguing possibility of their involvement in gametocyte adhesion.