Characterization of a Plasmodium falciparum mutant that has deleted the majority of the gametocyte-specific Pf11-1 locus

We identified a gametocyte-specific protein of Plasmodium falciparum called Pf11-1 and provide experimental evidence that this molecule is involved in the emergence of gametes of the infected erythrocyte (gametogenesis). A mutant parasite clone, which has deleted over 90% of the PF11-1 gene locus, was an important control to establish the gametocyte-specific expression of the Pf11-1. Molecular analysis of the Pf11-1 deletion indicates that it is presumably due a chromosome breakage with subsequent "healing" by the addition of telomeric heptanucleotides. Moreover, similar DNA rearrangements are observed in most of the laboratory isolates during asexual propagation in vitro.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Scherf,Artur, Petersen,Carolyn, Carter,Richard, Alano,Pietro, Nelson,Rick, Aikawa,Masamichi, Mattei,Denise, Silva,Luiz Pereira da, Leech,James
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 1992
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761992000700012
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