Malaria is a life threatening parasite disease caused and transmitted by infected female anopheles mosquito. However, the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, has become resistant to most anti malarial drugs, such as chloroquine, which contributes to fever and anaemia because of its ability to digest the haemoglobin in the red blood cells. The aims of this project were to establish whether “Bac to Bac” Baculoviral Expression System is suitable for expression of pfmdr 1 gene and for purification of the pgh 1 protein. The pfmdr 1 gene encodes an ABC transporter protein, pgh 1, fixed in the cell membrane of the Plasmodium falciparuum gut, which assist in elimination of drug compounds. Furthermore, “Bac to Bac” Baculoviral Expression System uses vectors with histidine tags to clone the pfmdr 1 gene and subsequently transform these into DH10Bac cells to produce the recombinant bacmid DNA. Since pfmdr 1 gene is an AT-rich sequence, PCR was optimized, by lowering the annealing and extension temperature to 47Co and 66Co respectively. The results show that “Bac to Bac” Baculoviral Expression System can be used to express the pfmdr 1 gene, though further experiments has to be performed.

<p>Malaria is a life threatening parasite disease caused and transmitted by infected female anopheles mosquito. However, the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, has become resistant to most anti malarial drugs, such as chloroquine, which contributes to fever and anaemia because of its ability to digest the haemoglobin in the red blood cells. The aims of this project were to establish whether “Bac to Bac” Baculoviral Expression System is suitable for expression of pfmdr 1 gene and for purification of the pgh 1 protein. The pfmdr 1 gene encodes an ABC transporter protein, pgh 1, fixed in the cell membrane of the Plasmodium falciparuum gut, which assist in elimination of drug compounds. Furthermore, “Bac to Bac” Baculoviral Expression System uses vectors with histidine tags to clone the pfmdr 1 gene and subsequently transform these into DH10Bac cells to produce the recombinant bacmid DNA. Since pfmdr 1 gene is an AT-rich sequence, PCR was optimized, by lowering the annealing and extension temperature to 47Co and 66Co respectively. The results show that “Bac to Bac” Baculoviral Expression System can be used to express the pfmdr 1 gene, though further experiments has to be performed.</p>