Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T21:09:27.856Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Frequency of cross-fertilization in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

L. C. Ranford-Cartwright ,
P. Balfe ,
R. Carter  and
D. Walliker
L. C. Ranford-Cartwright
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JN
P. Balfe
Affiliation:
Division of Virology, University College London Medical School, Windeyer Building, Cleveland Street, London W1P 6DB
R. Carter
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JN
D. Walliker
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JN
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Two clones of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, denoted 3D7 and HB3, were grown in vitro under conditions permitting the development of gametocytes. The two clones differ in their allelic forms of two antigen genes MSP1 and MSP2. The alleles can be distinguished as size differences of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified fragments of repetitive regions of each gene. Mosquitoes (Anopheles stephensi) were fed on a mixture of these gametocytes. A total of 128 oocysts was isolated from the midguts of infected mosquitoes from 9 crossing experiments between the clones. DNA extracted from these oocysts was amplified by PCR. Oocysts which contained both alleles of each gene (MSP1 and MSP2) had developed from heterozygotes produced by cross-fertilization events between 3D7 and HB3 gametes. The remaining oocysts contained single alleles of each gene, in parent clone combinations, and these had developed from homozygotes formed by self-fertilizations. The results suggest that gametes in the original mixture fed to mosquitoes had undergone random mating.

Keywords

Plasmodium falciparumcross-fertilizationoocystsmosquitoes
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 107 , Issue 1 , July 1993 , pp. 11 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bhasin, V. K. & Trager, W. (1984). Gametocyte-forming and non-gametocyte-forming clones of Plasmodium falciparum. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 33, 534–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Creasey, A. C., Ranford-Cartwright, L. C., Moore, D. L., Williamson, D. H., Wilson, R. J. M., Walliker, D. & Carter, R. (1993). Uniparental inheritance of the cytochrome b gene in Plasmodium falciparum. Current Genetics (in the Press.)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawking, F., Wilson, M. E. & Gammage, K. (1971). Evidence for cyclic development and shortlived maturity in the gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 65, 549–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ifediba, T. & Vanderberg, J. P. (1981). Complete in vitro maturation of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes. Nature, London 294, 364–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ponnudurai, T., Meuwissen, J. H. E. Th., Leeuwenberg, A. D. E. M., Verhave, J. P. & Lensen, A. H. W. (1982). The production of mature gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum in continuous cultures of different isolates infective to mosquitoes. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 76, 242–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ranford-Cartwright, L. C., Balfe, P., Carter, R. & Walliker, D. (1991). Genetic hybrids of Plasmodium falciparum identified by amplification of genomic DNA from single oocysts. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 49, 239–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenberg, R., Rungsiwongse, J., Kangsadalampai, S., Sattabongkot, J., Suwanabun, N., Chaiyaroj, S. & Mongkolsuk, S. (1992). Random mating of natural Plasmodium populations demonstrated from individual oocysts. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 53, 129–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saiki, R., Gelfand, D. H., Stoffel, S., Scharf, S. J., Higuchi, R., Horn, G. T., Mullis, K. B. & Erlich, H. A. (1988). Primer-directed enzyme amplification of DNA with a thermostable DNA polymerase. Science 239, 487–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simmonds, P., Balfe, P., Peutherer, J. F., Ludlam, C. A., Bishop, J. O. & Leigh-Brown, A. J. (1990). Human Immunodeficiency Virus-infected individuals contain pro-virus in small numbers of peripheral mononuclear cells and at low copy numbers. Journal of Virology 64, 864–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinden, R. E. & Hartley, R. H. (1985). Identification of the meiotic division of malarial parasites. Journal of Protozoology 32, 742–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smythe, J. A., Peterson, M. G., Coppel, R. L., Saul, A. J., Kemp, D. J. & Anders, R. F. (1990). Structural diversity in the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface antigen MSA-2. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 39, 227–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanabe, K., Mackay, M., Goman, M. & Scaife, J. G. (1987). Allelic dimorphism in a surface antigen gene of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Journal of Molecular Biology 195, 273–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, A. W., Carr, D. A., Carter, J. M. & Lyon, J. A. (1990). Sequence comparison of allelic forms of the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface antigen MSA-2. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 43, 211–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanderberg, J. P. & Gwadz, R. W. (1980). The transmission by mosquitoes of Plasmodia in the laboratory. In Malaria, Vol. 2 Pathology, Vector Studies and Culture (ed. Kreier, J. P.), pp. 153–234. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walliker, D., Quakyi, I. A., Wellems, T. E., McCutchan, T. F., Szarfman, A., London, W. T., Corcoran, L. M., Burkot, T. R. & Carter, R. (1987). Genetic analysis of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Science 236, 1661–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker-Jonah, A., Dolan, S. A., Gwadz, R. W., Panton, L. J. & Wellems, T. E. (1992). An RFLP map of the Plasmodium falciparum genome, recombination rates and favored linkage groups in a genetic cross. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 51, 313–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar