The ability of erythrocytes, infected by Plasmodium falciparum, to adhere to endothelial cells (cytoadherence) and to capture uninfected erythrocyte (rosetting) is the leading cause of death by severe malaria. Evidences link the binding of the adhesin Duffy Binding Like1-α (DBL1α) domain to the ABH histo-blood antigens with formation of rosettes. Inspired by this very close relationship between the disease susceptibility and individual blood type, here we investigate the structural requirements involved in the interaction of DBL1α with A, B and H histo-blood determinants and their subtypes. Our results evidence the high preference of DBL1α to A epitopes, in comparison to B and H epitopes. DBL1α interacts with ABH epitopes in subtype specific manner, presenting a remarkable affinity for type 2 structures, Fucα1-2Galβ1-4GlcNAcβ1, particularly the A2 epitope. The contacts made by DBL1α binding pocket and the ABH histo-blood groups were mapped by theoretical methods and supported by NMR experiments.

恶性疟原虫感染的红细胞的能力粘附于内皮细胞（细胞粘附）和捕获未感染的红血球（死硬化）是导致严重疟疾死亡的主要原因。有证据将粘附素达菲结合样1-α（DBL1α）域与ABH组织血抗原的结合与玫瑰花结联系起来。受疾病易感性与个体血型之间这种非常密切的关系的启发，在这里，我们研究了DBL1α与A，B和H组织血行列式及其亚型相互作用的结构要求。我们的结果证明，与B和H表位相比，DBL1α对A表位的高度偏爱。DBL1α以亚型特异性方式与ABH表位相互作用，对2型结构Fucα1-2Galβ1-4GlcNAcβ1（特别是A2表位）表现出显着的亲和力。