title: Improved Plasmodium berghei lines for conditional mutagenesis.
abstract: Conditional mutagenesis is a powerful tool for genetic analysis in Plasmodium berghei. It allows the study of proteins that function both during the parasite's pre-erythocytic and erythrocytic development. Currently available parasite lines used for conditional mutagenesis were constructed in the NK65 strain, and express a DNA recombinase under the control of pre-erythrocytic stage-specific promoters. However, the integration of the recombinase in these lines is unstable leading to inconsistent excision of the target gene. We describe improved lines of P. berghei with stably integrated DNA recombinase that allow efficient, stage-specific excision of target genes in the widely used ANKA strain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Dhruv
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Panchal
authors.forename: Kavitha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Govindasamy
authors.forename: Arti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rana
authors.forename: Purnima
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bhanot
mesh_terms: D017353:Gene Deletion; D005827:Genetics, Microbial / Q000379:methods*; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods*; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic