Comparative analyses of the ribosomal RNA from four isolates of Plasmodium falciparum.

The T1-resistant oligonucleotides of the ribosomal RNAs from four isolates of Plasmodium falciparum, the Southeast Asian strain FCR-1/Vietnam, the West African strains FCR-3/Gambia and FCR-8/West Africa, and an isolate from Honduras, were analyzed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Comparison of the largest 33--35 oligonucleotides indicated that 30 were common to all four of the isolates examined, with each isolate giving a characteristic pattern. Similar analyses were undertaken with cloned preparations of the FCR-3/Gambia isolate to determine if variation within a population of parasites could be detected. The patterns obtained for the five clones examined were identical.