ORGANIZATION OF CHROMOSOMES IN PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM - A MODEL FOR GENERATING KARYOTYPIC DIVERSITY

Chromosomes of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, are compartmentalized into conserved and polymorphic domains. The conserve d domains ore transcribed and localized within the central region of a chromosome, whereas the polymorphic domains ore trsnscriptionally sil ent and situated at chromosome ends. Unlike the central chromosomal do mains, chromosome ends contain repetitive sequence elements. in this r eview, Michael Lanzer, Derik de Bruin, Samuel Wertheimer and Jeffrey R avetch propose that the chromosome ends ploy a functional role in gene rating genetic diversity by promoting meiotic and mitotic recombinatio n and chromosomal rearrangement events.