Schematic images of the centromere region of <i>P</i>. <i>vivax</i> and <i>P</i>. <i>yoelii</i> used in this study and the design of the plasmids to evaluate centromere function.

Abstract

(A) The P. vivax centromere sequence was selected from chromosome 11 (CM000452.1). DNA fragments of approximately 1.9 and 1.5 kb size were used for plasmid construction and named PvCEN11S2 and PvCEN11S3, respectively. The P. yoelii centromere sequence was selected from chromosome 5 (DQ054838.1) and approximately 1.8 kb DNA fragment was used for the plasmid, named PyCEN5. These sequences include repeat sequence motifs (white arrowhead). (B) Centromere plasmids evaluated in this study (PvCEN11S2-H86HD-TG, PvCEN11S3-H86HD-TG, and PyCEN5-H86HD-TG) and a control plasmid without a centromere region (pNoCEN). CEN, centromere region; 5' PfHSP86, the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of P. falciparum heat shock protein 86; hDHFR, human dihydrofolate reductase open reading frame; 3TyGFP, triple Ty1 tag and green fluorescent protein open reading frame; 3' PbDT, 3' UTR of P. berghei dihydrofolate reductase-thymidine kinase; and 5' PvHSP86, 5' UTR of P. vivax heat shock protein 86.</p