title: Fate of haem iron in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
abstract: Chemical analysis has shown that Plasmodium falciparum trophozoites contain 61+/-2% of the iron within parasitized erythrocytes, of which 92+/-6% is located within the food vacuole. Of this, 88+/-9% is in the form of haemozoin. (57)Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy shows that haemozoin is the only detectable iron species in trophozoites. Electron spectroscopic imaging confirms this conclusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. tegan@science.uct.ac.za
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.forename: Jill M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Combrinck
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.forename: Giovanni R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Hearne
authors.forename: Helder M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.forename: Skhumbuzo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ntenteni
authors.forename: B Trevor
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Sewell
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Dale
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Donelly A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: van Schalkwyk
authors.forename: Jason C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Walden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006418:Heme / Q000378:metabolism*; D006420:Hemeproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000378:metabolism*; D015204:Spectroscopy, Mossbauer
chemical_list: D006420:Hemeproteins; C020753:hemozoin; D006418:Heme; D007501:Iron