title: Presence of contaminating mitochondrial DNA from host reticulocytes in experimental infections of Plasmodium berghei.
abstract: Superposition of two unrelated processes, namely terminal reticulocyte differentiation and synchronous plasmodial development, takes place in experimental infections of Plasmodium berghei. The first process is shown to be responsible for the appearance of some discrete restriction bands of host origin when DNA is extracted from leucocyte-free blood containing synchronous parasites at early stages of infection. These discrete DNA fragments cross-hybridize with host cell mitochondrial DNA. Purification steps are suggested to reduce this effect, which might be relevant also in the case of other plasmodial species exhibiting preference for reticulocytes as host cell.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Biologia Cellulare, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pace
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ponzi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dore
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scotti
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mons
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D008288:Malaria / Q000175:diagnosis; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012156:Reticulocytes / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial