Improvement of an in vitro drug selection method for generating transgenic Plasmodium berghei parasites
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Reference:
Malaria Journal 2019 18:215, 25 June 2019
Reverse genetics approaches have become powerful tools to dissect the biology of malaria parasites. In a previous study, development of an in vitro drug selection method for generating transgenic parasite of Plasmodium berghei was reported. Using this method, two novel and independent selection markers using the P. berghei heat shock protein 70 promoter was previously established. While the approach permits the easy and flexible genetic manipulation of P. berghei, shortcomings include a low variety in promoter options to drive marker gene expression and increased complexity of the selection procedure. In this study, addressing these issues was attempted.
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These results suggest that memory CD8+ T cells can be established postinfection with P. berghei ANKA, but their recall responses during reinfection are more profoundly inhibited than responses of naive CD8+ T cells.
Here, we investigate this in Plasmodium berghei by crossing a PbLAP1 null mutant parasite with a parasite line expressing GFP-tagged PbLAP3 that displays strong fluorescence in gametocytes. 
These results suggest that malaria parasite may switch the energy metabolism from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation to adapt to the insect vector where glucose is not readily available for ATP production.