* The bolded residues are variable residues across different strains; green is for K1, purple is for two or more strains (3D7, 7G8, K1). MSP-2: merozoite surface protein 2; AA: aminoacids
Declarations
Acknowledgments
This review is dedicated to the memory of our esteemed mentor, Prof. Manuel E. Patarroyo, whose visionary leadership, unwavering dedication to scientific inquiry, and invaluable mentorship were instrumental in shaping the research that we have summarized and reviewed here. His profound contributions to immunology and malaria research have left an enduring legacy that continues to inspire future generations of scientists. Sadly, Prof. Patarroyo passed away during the preparation of this manuscript, but his impact on the field and his relentless pursuit of knowledge will always be remembered. This dedication also extends to the many scientists from FIDIC and the former Instituto de Inmunología, who, despite numerous challenges, persevered with unwavering commitment to advancing this research. Their dedication, resilience, and collective efforts have significantly contributed to our understanding of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite invasion, paving the way for future advancements in malaria control and vaccine development.
Author contributions
MUM: Conceptualization, Investigation, Project administration, Validation, Writing—original draft. DBR: Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing—review & editing. FGQ: Conceptualization, Validation, Writing—review & editing. All authors read and approved the submitted version.
Conflicts of interest
Fanny Guzmán-Quimbayo who is the Guest Editor of Exploration of Drug Science had no involvement in the decision-making or the review process of this manuscript. The other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent to publication
Not applicable.
Availability of data and materials
The dataset analyzed for this study can be found on the PDB Homepage (https://www.rcsb.org/) and AlphaFold Protein Database (https://alphafold.com/). Additionally, the sequences of the proteins that were constructed by AlphaFold Server were taken from UniProt (https://www.uniprot.org/). The database used to search for articles was PubMed (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) where the keywords used were “Plasmodium falciparum + peptides + (Name of the protein)”, for the articles done in Instituto de Inmunología “Patarroyo ME” was added to the search. The software Protein BLAST by NCBI was used to determine the conserved regions of the peptides in different strains, while the sequences of the strains were obtained from UniProt.
Open Exploration maintains a neutral stance on jurisdictional claims in published institutional affiliations and maps. All opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the author(s) and do not represent the stance of the editorial team or the publisher.
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