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

• Main Authors: Artur Scherf, Carolyn Petersen, Richard Carter, Pietro Alano, Rick Nelson, Masamichi Aikawa, Denise Mattei, Luiz Pereira da Silva, James Leech
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 1992-01-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: chromosome breakage and healing; gametocyte specific antigen; telomere; HRPI; HRP II; deletions
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761992000700012

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.