title: Isolation of a distally located gene possibly correlated with gametocyte production ability.
abstract: Previous studies were focussed on the attempt to correlate observable variations in the size of Plasmodium berghei chromosomes with the loss of ability to produce viable gametocytes. A temporal coincidence between the appearance of a subtelomeric deletion on P. berghei chromosome 5 and the loss of the ability to produce viable gametocytes was observed in a clone (HPE) directly derived from the high gametocyte-producer clone 8417 during mechanical passages. Interestingly enough, three P. berghei sexual-specific genes have already been mapped on internal fragments of this chromosome. A novel gene, clone 150, isolated from a genomic library of clone 8417 using a probe enriched for sexual-specific transcripts, maps on chromosome 5 within 100kb from the telomere. Subtelomeric deletions of chromosome 5 affecting two non-producer clones involve part of the transcribed region of this gene.
authors.affiliation: Lab. Cell Biology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Birago
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pace
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Picci
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ponzi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005718:Gametogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D017125:Genes, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000235:genetics*