Creasey A M, Ranford-Cartwright L C, Moore D J, Williamson D H, Wilson R J, Walliker D, Carter R
Institute of Cell Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Curr Genet. 1993;23(4):360-4. doi: 10.1007/BF00310900.
The inheritance of an extrachromosomal 6-kb element has been examined in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. A single base pair difference in the cytochrome b gene from the 6-kb element of two different cloned lines of the parasite was identified, and used as a marker in a cross in the mosquito stage of the life cycle. Analysis of 59 individual hybrid oocysts resulting from this cross clearly demonstrated that inheritance of the cytochrome b gene was uniparental. This observation makes it possible to investigate the inheritance and evolution of cytoplasmic traits, including certain forms of drug resistance, in natural populations of this parasite.
