Thomas, JA;
Collins, CR;
Das, S;
Hackett, F;
Graindorge, A;
Bell, D;
Deu, E;
(2016)
Development and Application of a Simple Plaque Assay for the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
PLoS ONE
, 11
(6)
, Article e0157873. 10.1371/journal.pone.0157873.
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Abstract
Malaria is caused by an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that replicates within and destroys erythrocytes. Asexual blood stages of the causative agent of the most virulent form of human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, can be cultivated indefinitely in vitro in human erythrocytes, facilitating experimental analysis of parasite cell biology, biochemistry and genetics. However, efforts to improve understanding of the basic biology of this important pathogen and to develop urgently required new antimalarial drugs and vaccines, suffer from a paucity of basic research tools. This includes a simple means of quantifying the effects of drugs, antibodies and gene modifications on parasite fitness and replication rates. Here we describe the development and validation of an extremely simple, robust plaque assay that can be used to visualise parasite replication and resulting host erythrocyte destruction at the level of clonal parasite populations. We demonstrate applications of the plaque assay by using it for the phenotypic characterisation of two P. falciparum conditional mutants displaying reduced fitness in vitro.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Development and Application of a Simple Plaque Assay for the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0157873 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157873 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Red blood cells, Plasmodium, Parasite replication, Malarial parasites, Parasitic diseases, Cloning, Malaria, Merozoites |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10044733 |
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