Malaria var Gene Expression: Keeping Up with the Neighbors

Plasmodium falciparum PfEMP1 is a malaria virulence protein whose expression is epigenetically regulated. The parasite's ability to express exclusively only one of the sixty var genes that encode PfEMP1 is essential for disease pathogenesis. Two recent papers identify key molecular players in determining whether a var gene is active or silenced (Volz et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2011).