Heteroduplex stabilities in highly repetitive DNA. An hypothesis for the polymorphism of Plasmodium parasite antigenic response.

Codon repeats encountered in DNA sequences may formally lead to several double-stranded structures of similar stabilities. This is observed in the highly repetitive sequences of some Plasmodium antigens (S-antigen, CS proteins). It is postulated that gene recombination may occur via various heteroduplex molecules thus leading to antigenic polymorphism of Plasmodium parasites.