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When attached to RBC, the parasite first has to align its apex with the membrane for a successful invasion. Since the parasite\u2019s apex sits at the pointed end of an oval (egg-like) shape with a large local curvature, apical alignment is in general an energetically unfavorable process. Previously, using coarse-grained mesoscopic simulations, we have shown that optimal alignment time is achieved due to RBC membrane deformation and the stochastic nature of bond-based interactions between the parasite and RBC membrane (Hillringhaus et al., 2020). Here, we demonstrate that the parasite\u2019s shape has a prominent effect on the alignment process. The alignment times of spherical parasites for intermediate and large bond off-rates (or weak membrane-parasite interactions) are found to be close to those of an egg-like shape. However, for small bond off-rates (or strong adhesion and large membrane deformations), the alignment time for a spherical shape increases drastically. Parasite shapes with large aspect ratios such as oblate and long prolate ellipsoids are found to exhibit very long alignment times in comparison to the egg-like shape. At a stiffened RBC, a spherical parasite aligns faster than any other investigated shape. This study shows that the original egg-like shape performs not worse for parasite alignment than other considered shapes but is more robust with respect to different adhesion interactions and RBC membrane rigidities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7554\/elife.68818","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,21]],"date-time":"2021-07-21T08:00:57Z","timestamp":1626854457000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7554\/elife.68818","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Effect of malaria parasite shape on its alignment at erythrocyte membrane"],"prefix":"10.7554","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5960-4579","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Anil K","family":"Dasanna","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Theoretical Physics of Living Matter, Institute of Biological Information Processing and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich, J\u00fclich, 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