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Four species of rodent malaria are available, P. berghei, P. chabaudi, P. vinckei and P. yoelii (W.H.O Rodent Malaria List). Each species has unique biological characteristics which make it valuable as a model in the study of human malaria. For example, P. chabaudi is an ideal model for drug resistance in P. falciparum because of the number of stable drug resistant clones (What is a clone?) which have been developed (Ref 1,2). Genetic crossing work using P. chabaudi is also easier than with P. falciparum because the complete life-cycle in the laboratory is more easily maintained. P. berghei is probably the most widely used rodent malaria because it was isolated and distributed earlier than the other species. It has most recently been developed as a model for stable transfection of exogenous genes (Ref 3). P. yoelii has been widely used as a model for the development and characterization of vaccine candidates (Ref 4). P. vinckei has been used in the study of chronotherapy (Ref 5), and is the least widely studied of the species. Natural hosts The natural mammalian host of the rodent malaria species is the African tree rat, in particular the thicket rat Grammomys surdaster and the shiny thicket rat, Thamnomys rutilans. A natural vector has been identified in some cases as Anopheles dureni millecampsi. All species can be grown in laboratory mice and young rats, and many can be transmitted through mosquitoes, in particular A. stephensi, which enables the complete life-cycle to be maintained in the laboratory. More information can be found in Ref 6. Synteny between the species of rodent malaria How similar are the rodent malaria species? There are obvious differences in terms of their basic biology, for example morphology and red blood cell preference. Like other species of malaria parasite, they have 14 chromosomes which are polymorphic both between species and between isolates of the same species. Despite such genome plasticity , the chromosome location of different genes (synteny) between the four species is highly conserved (Ref 7). Refererences [1] Rosario, V. E. (1976) Genetics of chloroquine resistance in malaria parasites. Nature 261, 585-586. PubMed [2] Padua, R. A. (1981) Plasmodium chabaudi: Genetics of resistance to chloroquine. Experimental Parasitology 52, 419-426. PubMed [3] Tomas, A. M., van der Wel, A. M., Thomas, A. W., Janse, C. J. and Waters, A. P. (1998) Transfection systems for animal models of malaria. Parasitology Today 14, 245-249. [4] Doolan, D. L., Hedstrom, R. C., Gardner, M. J., Sedegah, M., Wang, H., Gramzinski, R. A., Margalith, M., Hobart, P. and Hoffman, S. L. (1998) DNA vaccination as an approach to malaria control: current status and stratagies. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology 226, 37-56. PubMed [5] Landau, I. and Chabaud, A. (1994) Plasmodium species infecting Thamnomys rutilans: a zoological study. Advances in Parasitology 33, 49-90. PubMed [6] Carter, R. and Diggs, C. L. (1977) Plasmodia of rodents. 359-465 Parasitic Protozoa Vol. III, 1977 Academic Press, Inc. New York, San Francisco, London NLM Locator Plus [7] Janse, C. J., Carlton, J. M.-R., Walliker, D. and Waters, A. P. (1994) Conserved location of genes on polymorphic chromosomes of four species of malaria parasites. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 68, 285-296. PubMed Last updated: June 9, 1999 |