Erythrocyte diameter has no effect on merozoite number in P. falciparum.

A Airyscan-processed images of P. falciparum 3D7 episomally expressing H2B-GFP. Erythrocyte diameter was measured by averaging three diameters (yellow lines) at different angles. For each biological replicate a different donor blood batch was used B Erythrocyte diameters in uninfected red blood cells (uRBC) and P. falciparum (green) and P. knowlesi (blue) infected red blood cells. Measured as paired values at t0 and tend. Means of three diameter measurements for each RBC are plotted. Mean is shown for uRBCs. Statistical analysis: t-test with Welch’s correction. C Correlation of P. falciparum merozoite number against erythrocyte diameter. D As in C for P. knowlesi. Given are Pearson correlation coefficient r and p values. N = 30 for uRBC, N = 19 (t0) and N = 16 (tend) for P. falciparum H2B-GFP and N = 18 (t0) and N = 15 (tend) for P. knowlesi H2B-GFP all from three independent blood donors.