Employing transgenic parasite strains to study the Ca2+ dynamics in the human malaria parasite plasmodium falciparum

Abstract

Studying Ca2+ dynamics in protozoan parasites is not an easy task. Loading of parasites with commonly used Ca2+ fluorescent dyes (such as Fuo4-AM) remains as the major protocol to measure the Ca2+ oscillations inside the cell. In this chapter, we describe an alternative method to study Ca2+ signaling in Plasmodium falciparum parasite. This method employs the construction of transgenic parasites (through standard molecular biology techniques), selection of the transfected population, and use of those parasites in spectrofluorometric Ca2+ assays.