Abstract
Extraction of nucleic acids is fundamental to molecular genetic studies of parasitic organisms. DNA is required for gene bank construction and analysis of the genome, and RNA is needed for cDNA synthesis, analysis of transcription, and translation studies. Early methods of isolating DNA from the human malaria parasite P. fulciparum made use of anionic detergent and enzymic proteolysis to liberate the DNA, followed by purification on cesium chloride gradients (1,2). The first methods of extracting RNA involved harsh variants of phenol/chloroform extraction to overcome the problems of high protein:nucleic acid ratios and RNase activity (3–5). However, a major disadvantage with these RNA protocols was that the DNA could not be recovered. An alternative approach to isolating nucleic acids makes use of highly chaotropic guanidinium salts plus detergent to efficiently strip off the protein and rapidly denature both DNases and RNases (6). This procedure, in combination with the differential density of DNA and RNA in solutions of high Cs+ concentration, makes it possible to extract and retrieve simultaneously both DNA and RNA, thus making maximum use of precious parasite mate- rial. This chapter details such a method adapted for P falciparum that gives high yields of DNA suitable for cloning and other manipu- lations, together with the modifications required to additionally iso- late the RNA component.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Goman, M, Langsley, G, Hyde, J E, Yankovsky, N K, Zolg, J. W, and Scaife, J. G (1982) The establishment of genomic DNA libraries for the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and identification of individual clones by hybirdisation. Mol Brochem. Parasitol. 5, 391–40
Pollack, Y., Katzen, A L., Spira, D. T, and Golenser, J. (1982) The genome of Plasmodium falciparum. I: DNA base composition. Nucl. Acids Res 10, 539–546
Hyde, J. E., Zolg, J. W, and Scaife, J G. (1981) Isolatton and characterisation of ribosomal RNA from the human malarta parasite Plasmodium falciparum Mol Biochem Parasitol 4, 283–290.
Wallach, M. (1982) Efficient extraction and translation of Plasmodium falciparum messenger RNA Mol Brochem. Parasitol. 6, 335–342.
Hyde, J. E., Goman, M., Hall, R, Osland, A., Hope, I. A., Langsley, G, Zolg, J. W., and Scatfe, J G (1984) Characterisation and translation studies of messenger RNA from the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and construction of a cDNA library Mol. Biochem. Parasitol 10, 269–285.
Chirgwin, J M., Przybyla, A. E., MacDonald, R. J, and Rutter, W. J. (1979) Isolation of biologically active ribonucleic acid from sources enriched in rtbonuclease. Biochemistry 18, 5294–5298.
Okayama, H., Kawaichi, M., Brownstein, M., Lee, F, Yokota, T., and Arai, K. (1987) High efficiency cloning of full length cDNA; construction and screening of cDNA expression libraries for mammalian cells, in Methods in Enzymology (Wu, R and Grossman, L., eds.), Academic, New York, vol. 154, PartE, pp. 3–28.
Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E. F., and Maniatis, T. (1989) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, vol 1, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, pp. 7.43–7.45.
Sambrook, J, Fritsch, E F, and Maniatis, T. (1989) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, vol 1, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, pp. 7.26–7.29
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Humana Press Inc, Totowa, NJ
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Hyde, J.E., Read, M. (1993). The Extraction and Purification of DNA and RNA from In Vitro Cultures of the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum. In: Hyde, J.E. (eds) Protocols in Molecular Parasitology. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 21. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-239-6:133
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-239-6:133
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-239-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-508-2
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols