Hundreds of microsatellites for genotyping Plasmodium yoelii parasites

Jian Li, Yanhui Zhang, Shengfa Liu, Lingxian Hong, Margery Sullivan, Thomas F. McCutchan, Jane M. Carlton, Xin zhuan Su

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Genetic crosses have been employed to study various traits of rodent malaria parasites and to locate loci that contribute to drug resistance, immune protection, and disease virulence. Compared with human malaria parasites, genetic crossing of rodent malaria parasites is more easily performed; however, genotyping methods using microsatellites (MSs) or large-scale single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that have been widely used in typing Plasmodium falciparum are not available for rodent malaria species. Here we report a genome-wide search of the Plasmodium yoelii yoelii (P. yoelii) genome for simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and the identification of nearly 600 polymorphic MS markers for typing the genomes of P. yoelii and Plasmodium berghei. The MS markers are randomly distributed across the 14 physical chromosomes assembled from genome sequences of three rodent malaria species, although some variations in the numbers of MS expected according to chromosome size exist. The majority of the MS markers are AT-rich repeats, similar to those found in the P. falciparum genome. The MS markers provide an important resource for genotyping, lay a foundation for developing linkage maps, and will greatly facilitate genetic studies of P. yoelii.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)153-158
Number of pages6
JournalMolecular and Biochemical Parasitology
Volume166
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2009

Keywords

  • Genetic markers
  • Genotyping
  • MS
  • Rodent malaria parasite
  • Simple sequence repeat (SSR)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Parasitology
  • Molecular Biology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hundreds of microsatellites for genotyping Plasmodium yoelii parasites'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this