For the murine-infective parasite P. berghei the malaria cell atlas [70] has shown trophozoite-like pir transcription in the liver stages, and [69], have shown that PIR proteins are expressed in the late liver stages, demonstrating that the genes may play a role also in the exo-erythrocytic stages of other malaria parasites and represent an important avenue of future work. The gene discussed is PIR; the disease is malaria.