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Theoretical immunology

Parasitic turncoat

Nature volume 429, pages 511–513 (2004)Cite this article

Some parasites evade the immune response of their victim by changing their antigenic coat. Surprisingly, it seems that the trick works best if the new coat isn't completely different from the old one.

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Figure 1: The merozoites of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, erupt from an infected blood cell, and will carry the infection into other blood cells.

G. MURTI/SPL

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, 30322, Georgia, USA

    Rustom Antia

  2. Laboratoire de Parasitologie Evolutive, Université P. & M. Curie, Paris, 75252, France

    Jacob Koella

Authors
  1. Rustom Antia
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  2. Jacob Koella
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Antia, R., Koella, J. Parasitic turncoat. Nature 429, 511–513 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/429511a

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