Subcellular fractionation of the two organelle DNAs of malaria parasites

✍ Scribed by Robert J. M. Wilson; Mitchell Fry; Malcolm J. Gardner; Jean E. Feagin; Donald H. Williamson

• Book ID: 104735427
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 429 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0172-8083
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00351702

✦ Synopsis

Malaria parasites contain two extrachromosoreal DNAs, a 6 kb repetitive linear molecule which is assigned on the basis of its genetic content to the mitochondria, and a 35 kb transcriptionally active circular molecule whose intracellular location is not known. We used the polymerase chain reaction to detect and estimate the numbers of both molecules in sub-cellular fractions derived from the rodent parasite Plasmodium yoelii. The two D N A molecules were not coordinately partitioned by the fractionation process, the 6 kb molecule being more abundant, relative to the 35 kb circle, in a fraction enriched for mitochondria, the converse being true for a less dense fraction of unknown identity. This implies that the two molecules are located in different cellular compartments, and is consistent with other evidence suggesting they have different evolutionary origins.