DETERMINING THE SEQUENCE OF PARASITE DNA

Knowledge of the biochemical mechanisms critical for the completion of a parasite's life cycle is fundamental to developing control strategies. However, most of the studies of parasite proteins are limited by the difficulty in obtaining sufficient amounts of purified proteins for biochemical analysis. Alternatively, parasite genes can be cloned and sequenced, then the sequence information used to prepare large quantities of recombinant proteins for biochemical analysis. Roman Reddy briefly summarizes some of the commonly employed methods to isolate parasite genes, based on protein function and expression pattern of the genes. He then elaborates on the random sequence approach, with special reference to Plasmodium falciparum.