Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen-1 (PfAMA-1) is a malaria merozoite integral membrane protein that plays an essential but poorly understood role in invasion of host erythrocytes. The PfAMA-1 ectodomain comprises three disulfide-constrained domains, the first of which (domain I) is preceded by an N-terminal prosequence. PfAMA-1 is initially routed to secretory organelles at the apical end of the merozoite, where the 83-kDa precursor (PfAMA-1 83 ) is converted to a 66-kDa form

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... 1 66 ). At about the time of erythrocyte invasion, PfAMA-1 66 selectively translocates onto the merozoite surface. Here we use direct microsequencing and mass spectrometric peptide mass fingerprinting to characterize in detail the primary structure and proteolytic processing of PfAMA-1. We have determined the site at which processing takes place to convert PfAMA-1 83 to PfAMA-1 66 and have shown that both species possess a completely intact and unmodified transmembrane and cytoplasmic domain. Following relocation to the merozoite surface, PfAMA-1 66 is further proteolytically cleaved at one of two alternative sites, either between domains II and III, or at a membraneproximal site following domain III. As a result, the bulk of the ectodomain is shed from the parasite surface in the form of two soluble fragments of 44 and 48 kDa. PfAMA-1 is not detectably modified by the addition of N-linked oligosaccharides.