Fig. 4

Effect of membrane stiffness and knob density on dynamic cytoadhesive behavior. Simulations were performed to assess the effect of a the shear modulus, b bending modulus, and c knob density on adhesion dynamics of parasitized erythrocytes. As readouts the following parameters were obtained: translational velocity, v, contact time, fluorescence amplitude difference, ΔA, (a.u., arbitrary units), and the Pearson correlation coefficient between fluorescence amplitude and velocity trajectories. The simulations were performed for a cell with a discoidal shape (absolute volume of 79 µm3 and reduced volume of 0.79) and a wall shear stress of 0.1 Pa. The shear and bending moduli considered cover the range of values experimentally determined for infected and uninfected erythrocytes29. The range of knob densities cover the values experimentally determined for HbAA and HbAS erythrocytes infected with the FCR3HDMEC strain (Supplementary Fig. 8). Statistical significance was assessed using Holm–Sidak one-way ANOVA. n.s., not significant. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001