TY - JOUR
T1 - A transgenic Plasmodium falciparum NF54 strain that expresses GFP-luciferase throughout the parasite life cycle
AU - Vaughan, Ashley M.
AU - Mikolajczak, Sebastian A.
AU - Camargo, Nelly
AU - Lakshmanan, Viswanathan
AU - Kennedy, Mark
AU - Lindner, Scott E.
AU - Miller, Jessica L.
AU - Hume, Jen C.C.
AU - Kappe, Stefan H.I.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the insectary staff at Seattle BioMed for the culture of P. falciparum gametocytes and sporozoites. We also thank Dr. Robert Sinden for the pEGFP plasmid. The current study was funded by grants awarded to Stefan H. I. Kappe from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ( OPP1016829 ), the Medicines for Malaria Venture (008/2600) and the Department of Defense ( W81XWH-11-2-0184 ).
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - Plasmodium falciparum is the pathogenic agent of the most lethal of human malarias. Transgenic P. falciparum parasites expressing luciferase have been created to study drug interventions of both asexual and sexual blood stages but luciferase-expressing mosquito stage and liver stage parasites have not been created which has prevented the easy quantification of mosquito stage development (e.g. for transmission blocking interventions) and liver stage development (for interventions that prevent infection). To overcome this obstacle, we have created a transgenic P. falciparum NF54 parasite that expresses a GFP-luciferase transgene throughout the life cycle. Luciferase expression is robust and measurable at all life cycle stages, including midgut oocyst, salivary gland sporozoites and liver stages, where in vivo development is easily measurable using humanized mouse infections in conjunction with an in vivo imaging system. This parasite reporter strain will accelerate testing of interventions against pre-erythrocytic life cycle stages.
AB - Plasmodium falciparum is the pathogenic agent of the most lethal of human malarias. Transgenic P. falciparum parasites expressing luciferase have been created to study drug interventions of both asexual and sexual blood stages but luciferase-expressing mosquito stage and liver stage parasites have not been created which has prevented the easy quantification of mosquito stage development (e.g. for transmission blocking interventions) and liver stage development (for interventions that prevent infection). To overcome this obstacle, we have created a transgenic P. falciparum NF54 parasite that expresses a GFP-luciferase transgene throughout the life cycle. Luciferase expression is robust and measurable at all life cycle stages, including midgut oocyst, salivary gland sporozoites and liver stages, where in vivo development is easily measurable using humanized mouse infections in conjunction with an in vivo imaging system. This parasite reporter strain will accelerate testing of interventions against pre-erythrocytic life cycle stages.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2012.10.004
DO - 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2012.10.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 23107927
AN - SCOPUS:84870405599
VL - 186
SP - 143
EP - 147
JO - Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology
JF - Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology
SN - 0166-6851
IS - 2
ER -