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Recombination associated with replication of malarial mitochondrial DNA.
Author(s) -
Preiser P. R.,
Wilson R. J.,
Moore P. W.,
McCready S.,
Hajibagheri M. A.,
Blight K. J.,
Strath M.,
Williamson D. H.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1996.tb00401.x
Subject(s) - library science , research council , medical research , biology , government (linguistics) , computer science , microbiology and biotechnology , philosophy , linguistics
Mitochondrial DNA of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum comprises approximately 20 copies per cell of a 6 kb genome, arranged mainly as polydisperse linear concatemers. In synchronous blood cultures, initiation of mtDNA replication coincides with the start of the 4–5 doublings in nuclear DNA that mark the reproductive phase of the erythrocytic cycle. We show that mtDNA replication coincides with a recombination process reminiscent of the replication mechanism used by certain bacteriophages and plasmids. The few circular forms of mtDNA which are also present do not replicate by a theta mechanism, but are themselves the product of recombination, and we propose they undergo rolling circle activity to generate the linear concatemers.