Quantification of female and male Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR

Petra Schneider; Sarah E. Reece; Ben C.L. Van Schaijk; Teun Bousema; Kjerstin H.W. Lanke; Cora S.J. Meaden; Amal Gadalla; Lisa C. Ranford-Cartwright; Hamza A. Babiker

doi:10.1016/j.molbiopara.2015.03.006

Quantification of female and male Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR

Petra Schneider^*, Sarah E. Reece, Ben C.L. Van Schaijk, Teun Bousema, Kjerstin H.W. Lanke, Cora S.J. Meaden, Amal Gadalla, Lisa C. Ranford-Cartwright, Hamza A. Babiker

^*Corresponding author for this work

Biochemistry

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Abstract

The transmission of malaria parasites depends on the presence of sexual stages (gametocytes) in the blood, making the ratio and densities of female and male gametocytes important determinants of parasite fitness. This manuscript describes the development of reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assays to separately quantify mature female and male gametocytes of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and reveals that Pfs25 mRNA is expressed only in female gametocytes. The female (Pfs25) and male (Pfs230p) gametocyte specific RT-qPCR assays have lower detection limits of 0.3 female and 1.8 male gametocytes per microlitre of blood, respectively, making them more sensitive than microscopy. Accurate quantification of the ratio and densities of female and male gametocytes will increase understanding of P. falciparum transmission and improve the evaluation of transmission blocking interventions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	29-33
Number of pages	5
Journal	Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology
Volume	199
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molbiopara.2015.03.006
Publication status	Published - Jan 1 2015

Keywords

Gametocyte sex ratio
Malaria
PCR
Pfs25 Pfs230p
Sex-specific quantitative

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Parasitology
Molecular Biology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.molbiopara.2015.03.006

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Schneider, P., Reece, S. E., Van Schaijk, B. C. L., Bousema, T., Lanke, K. H. W., Meaden, C. S. J., Gadalla, A., Ranford-Cartwright, L. C., & Babiker, H. A. (2015). Quantification of female and male Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, 199(1-2), 29-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molbiopara.2015.03.006

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title = "Quantification of female and male Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR",

abstract = "The transmission of malaria parasites depends on the presence of sexual stages (gametocytes) in the blood, making the ratio and densities of female and male gametocytes important determinants of parasite fitness. This manuscript describes the development of reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assays to separately quantify mature female and male gametocytes of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and reveals that Pfs25 mRNA is expressed only in female gametocytes. The female (Pfs25) and male (Pfs230p) gametocyte specific RT-qPCR assays have lower detection limits of 0.3 female and 1.8 male gametocytes per microlitre of blood, respectively, making them more sensitive than microscopy. Accurate quantification of the ratio and densities of female and male gametocytes will increase understanding of P. falciparum transmission and improve the evaluation of transmission blocking interventions.",

keywords = "Gametocyte sex ratio, Malaria, PCR, Pfs25 Pfs230p, Sex-specific quantitative",

author = "Petra Schneider and Reece, {Sarah E.} and {Van Schaijk}, {Ben C.L.} and Teun Bousema and Lanke, {Kjerstin H.W.} and Meaden, {Cora S.J.} and Amal Gadalla and Ranford-Cartwright, {Lisa C.} and Babiker, {Hamza A.}",

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doi = "10.1016/j.molbiopara.2015.03.006",

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AU - Lanke, Kjerstin H.W.

AU - Meaden, Cora S.J.

AU - Gadalla, Amal

AU - Ranford-Cartwright, Lisa C.

AU - Babiker, Hamza A.

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AB - The transmission of malaria parasites depends on the presence of sexual stages (gametocytes) in the blood, making the ratio and densities of female and male gametocytes important determinants of parasite fitness. This manuscript describes the development of reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assays to separately quantify mature female and male gametocytes of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and reveals that Pfs25 mRNA is expressed only in female gametocytes. The female (Pfs25) and male (Pfs230p) gametocyte specific RT-qPCR assays have lower detection limits of 0.3 female and 1.8 male gametocytes per microlitre of blood, respectively, making them more sensitive than microscopy. Accurate quantification of the ratio and densities of female and male gametocytes will increase understanding of P. falciparum transmission and improve the evaluation of transmission blocking interventions.

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KW - Sex-specific quantitative

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Quantification of female and male Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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