AQP9 and infection: Given that the requirement for host proteins that confer permissiveness to Plasmodium infection may differ according to the species of the target cell (Silvie et al., 2007) and that P. yoelii and P. berghei sporozoites are capable of infecting human hepatocytes in vitro (Silvie et al., 2006b), the role of AQP9 was investigated in infection of human hepatocytes by these rodent Plasmodium species.