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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1993 Jun 1;90(11):5234–5236. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.11.5234

Transfection of the malaria parasite and expression of firefly luciferase.

R Goonewardene 1, J Daily 1, D Kaslow 1, T J Sullivan 1, P Duffy 1, R Carter 1, K Mendis 1, D Wirth 1
PMCID: PMC46690  PMID: 8506371

Abstract

The goal of this work is to develop a method for the functional analysis of malaria genes using the method of DNA transfection. We have developed a transient transfection vector by constructing a chimeric gene in which the firefly luciferase gene was inserted in frame into the coding region of the pgs28 gene of Plasmodium gallinaceum. This plasmid DNA was introduced into P. gallinaceum gametes and fertilized zygotes by electroporation, and luciferase expression was assayed after 24 hr. This report of successful introduction and expression of a foreign gene in a malaria parasite demonstrates the feasibility of this approach to developing methods for the functional analysis of parasite genes.

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Selected References

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