A YAC CONTIG MAP OF PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM CHROMOSOME-4 - CHARACTERIZATION OF A DNA AMPLIFICATION BETWEEN 2 RECENTLY SEPARATED ISOLATES

We have generated a physical map of Plasmodium falciparum chromosome 4 using yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs). The map is defined by a YA C contig spanning approximately 1.05 Mb, which has been restriction ma pped to a resolution of 30 kb and is punctuated by 22 sequence tagged sites. The physical information obtained has enabled us to compare and contrast the structure of chromosome 4 in detail between FCR3 and B8, two recently separated isolates of P. falciparum, leading to characte rization of a novel chromosome polymorphism occurring in a subtelomeri c region. Comparison of chromosomes 4 from 10 different isolates has s hown that chromosome size polymorphisms are restricted to both subtelo meric regions. These analyses provide a high-resolution physical map t hat will be important to complement genetic analysis of this human pat hogen. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.