TY - JOUR
T1 - Genotyping of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction
AU - Menegon, Michela
AU - Severini, Carlo
AU - Sannella, Anna
AU - Paglia, Maria Grazia
AU - Sangaré, Djibril
AU - Abdel-Wahab, Amel
AU - Abdel-Muhsin, Abdel Muhsin A.
AU - Babiker, Hamza
AU - Walliker, David
AU - Alano, Pietro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (054597/98/Z), the Medical Research Council (UK), the Contract INCO-DC ERBIC 18CT97 0217 of the European Commission, and a Grant of Istituto Superiore di Sanità. We are indebted to Professor G. Girelli, Centro Trasfusionale, Dipartimento di Biopatologia Umana, Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, for the gift of red blood cells for parasite cultivation, and to Dr Marco Gentile, IRCCS ‘Lazzaro Spallanzani’, Rome, for providing the samples from imported malaria cases. We aknowledge Francesco Severini for his technical help. A. Abdel-Muhsin and Amel Abdel-Wahab were supported by a WHO/TDR Training Award. Djibril Sangaré was supported by a WHO/TDR Re-Entry Grant. We acknowledge with gratitude the help of the staff of the Malaria Research and Training Center, Bamako, under the direction of Professor Y.Y. Touré and Professor Ogobara Doumbo.
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - A molecular assay has been developed for the specific detection and genetic characterisation of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes in the blood of malaria infected individuals. The assay is based on the reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of the messenger RNA of gene pfg377, a sexual-stage specific transcript abundantly produced in maturing gametocytes. The gene contains four regions of repetitive sequences, of which region 3 was shown to be the most polymorphic in laboratory clones and field isolates of the parasite. Analysis of samples of malaria infected blood by RT-PCR specific for region 3 has enabled identification of multiple gametocyte-producing clones within single infections. The assay is able to detect gametocytes below the threshold of microscopic detection, and is highly specific for its gametocyte targets also in the presence of a vast excess of asexual forms. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.
AB - A molecular assay has been developed for the specific detection and genetic characterisation of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes in the blood of malaria infected individuals. The assay is based on the reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of the messenger RNA of gene pfg377, a sexual-stage specific transcript abundantly produced in maturing gametocytes. The gene contains four regions of repetitive sequences, of which region 3 was shown to be the most polymorphic in laboratory clones and field isolates of the parasite. Analysis of samples of malaria infected blood by RT-PCR specific for region 3 has enabled identification of multiple gametocyte-producing clones within single infections. The assay is able to detect gametocytes below the threshold of microscopic detection, and is highly specific for its gametocyte targets also in the presence of a vast excess of asexual forms. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.
KW - Gametocyte carrier
KW - Genetic diversity
KW - Plasmodium falciparum
KW - RT-PCR assay
KW - Transmission stages
KW - pfg377 mRNA
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U2 - 10.1016/S0166-6851(00)00314-5
DO - 10.1016/S0166-6851(00)00314-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 11087925
AN - SCOPUS:0033762425
SN - 0166-6851
VL - 111
SP - 153
EP - 161
JO - Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology
JF - Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology
IS - 1
ER -
