Full-Malaria

Full-Malaria is NAR Database No. 72.

Database Description

Full-malaria (http://fullmal.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp) is a database of full-length-enriched cDNA libraries of two malaria parasites: Plasmodium falciparum, P. yoelii, and Toxoplasma gondii. The libraries were produced using the oligo-capping method, which replaces the cap structure of intact mRNA and can be used to selectively clone full-length cDNAs. 5 end-one-pass nucleotide sequences were determined for a large number of these cDNAs and were mapped on the genome sequences of the parasites. In the map viewer, transcription start sites represented by oligo-capped clones and splicing of conventional ESTs are shown. Draft genome sequences of murine malaria parasite P. yoelii are aligned with the genome sequences of P. falciparum for comparative biological studies. Such cDNA clones are an invaluable resource for determining the exact structures of expressed genes.

Recent Developments

Full-malaria 2005 includes Toxoplasma gondii, an apicomplexa protozoon that is closely related to Plasmodium species and that causes severe congenital diseases in newborn babies and acute infection in immunocompromised patients. An oligo-capped library was produced from tachyzoite stage parasites of T. gondii RH strain and large scale 5’end-one-pass sequences were determined. Six thousand one hundred and forty-nine sequences (83%) from the oligo-capped library and 95,722 (86%) of ESTs were successfully mapped on the genome sequences. Now, Full-malaria provides a basis for comparative studies of expressed genes of two genera of apicomplexa parasites.

Acknowledgements

Nucleotide sequences and gene predictions were downloaded from PlasmoDB and ToxoDB. EST data were obtained from Genbank. This database has been constructed and maintained using a Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

References

1. Watanabe J, Sasaki M, Suzuki Y, Sugano S. (2001) FULL-malaria: a database for a full-length enriched cDNA library from human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Nucleic Acid Res. 29, 70-71.
2. Watanabe J, Sasaki M, Suzuki Y, Sugano S. (2002) Analysis of transcriptomes of human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum using full-length enriched library: identification of novel genes and diverse transcription start sites of messenger RNAs. Gene 291, 105-113.

Authors

Watanabe, J.¹, Xuan, X.¹, Suzuki, Y.², Sasaki, M.², Wakaguri H.², Sugimoto C.³, Sugano, S.¹

¹Department of Parasitology and ²Department of Genome Structure Analysis, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
²Laboratoty of Genome Structure Analysis, Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minatoku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan
³National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan

External Links

• Full-Malaria homepage
• Full-Malaria abstract in the NAR 2004 Database Issue

Contact Email

• jwatanab@manage.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Search for "Full-Malaria" in:

Categories: NARDatabase | NARDatabase:Genomics Databases (non-vertebrate) | NARDatabase:Unicellular eukaryotes genome databases