Plasmodium molecular tools

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plasmodium species have been difficult to scientifically study, partially due to the inability to use many standard biological techniques to genetically manipulate the organism. Recent research has sought to overcome these technical barriers in order to make the parasite more amenable to study. Below is a description of published methods of genetic control within the Plasmodium parasite.

Contents

[edit] Transformation

  • Electroporation
  • loaded RBCs

[edit] DNA level

[edit] Transcription regulation

  • Tet-based transactivator system - ligand inducible control of gene transcription based upon the Tet system (P. falciparum)[1]

[edit] Integration systems

  • Rep20 mediated
  • Bxb1 integrase - site-specific stable genetic integration into chromosomes mediated by mycobacteriophage Bxb1 integrase (P. falciparum)[2]

[edit] Recombination systems

  • Flp/FRT - induced site-specific recombination/mutagenesis using the yeast Flp/FRT system (P. berghei)[3]

[edit] Transposon systems

  • piggyBac - lepidopteran transposable element for random, efficient integration of DNA into genome (P. falciparum)[4]

[edit] RNA level

  • RNAi???
  • antisense
  • self-cleaving ribozyme - A failed attempt to use an inducible self-cleaving ribozyme to control mRNA degradation of fused transcripts(P. falciparum)[5]

[edit] Protein level

  • FKBP destabilization domain - ligand-regulatable domain to promote degradation of fusion protein (P. falciparum)[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Meissner (2005). "Tetracycline analogue-regulated transgene expression in Plasmodium falciparum blood stages using Toxoplasma gondii transactivators". PNAS 102 (8): 2980-2985. 
  2. ^ Nkrumah (2006). "Efficient site-specific integration in Plasmodium falciparum chromosomes mediated by mycobacteriophage Bxb1 integrase". Nature Methods 3: 615 - 621. 
  3. ^ Carvalho (2004). "Conditional mutagenesis using site-specific recombination in Plasmodium berghei transactivators". PNAS 101 (41): 14931-14936. 
  4. ^ Balu (2005). "High-efficiency transformation of Plasmodium falciparum by the lepidopteran transposable element piggyBac". PNAS 102 (45): 16391–16396. 
  5. ^ Agop-Nersesian (2008). "Functional expression of ribozymes in Apicomplexa: Towards exogenous control of gene expression by inducible RNA-cleavage". International Journal for Parasitology. 
  6. ^ Armstrong (2007). "An FKBP destabilization domain modulates protein levels in Plasmodium falciparum". Nature Methods 4: 1007 - 1009.