Abstract
Genetically modified Plasmodium parasites are central gene function reagents in malaria research. The Rodent Malaria genetically modified DataBase (RMgmDB) (www.pberghei.eu) is a manually curated Web - based repository that contains information on genetically modified rodent malaria parasites. It provides easy and rapid access to information on the genotype and phenotype of genetically modified mutant and reporter parasites. Here, we provide guidelines for generating and describing rodent malaria parasite mutants. Standardization in describing mutant genotypes and phenotypes is important not only to enhance publication quality but also to facilitate cross-linking and mining data from multiple sources, and should permit information derived from mutant parasites to be used in integrative system biology approaches. We also provide guidelines on how to submit information to RMgmDB on non-published mutants, mutants that do not exhibit a clear phenotype, as well as negative attempts to disrupt/mutate genes. Such information helps to prevent unnecessary duplication of experiments in different laboratories, and can provide indirect evidence that these genes are essential for blood-stage development.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Gunnar Mair for the use of the schematics shown in Fig. 2, and Senad Mededovic and Auke van Wigcheren for building and maintaining RMgmDB. The work was supported by European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement N° 242095. We would like to thank members of PlasmoDB and GeneDB (Welcome Trust Sanger Institute) for their input and support of RMgmDB.
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Khan, S.M., Kroeze, H., Franke-Fayard, B., Janse, C.J. (2012). Standardization in Generating and Reporting Genetically Modified Rodent Malaria Parasites: The RMgmDB Database. In: Ménard, R. (eds) Malaria. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 923. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-026-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-026-7_9
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Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
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